Nov. 20, 2010
Bronx, N.Y. -
In a hard fought water polo match game that featured 24 ejections, eight advantage/penalty goals and 22 saves, the story of the game was the play of Ross Schofield who took over command of the contest in the second period with three of his five goals as Johns Hopkins held off a Fordham bid, defeating the Rams 11-8 at the CWPA Eastern Championships at Bucknell University.
Hopkins never trailed in the game opening up a 3-1 lead in the first period.
Schofield opened the scoring 45 seconds into the contest as he rifled home a shot at the 7:15 mark to put the Blue Jays in front to stay. Fordham tied the game 30 seconds later when Ali Arat whipped in a behind-the-back shot off an assist from Alex Powell at 6:45.
Johns Hopkins closed the period with back-to-back special teams scores as John Barrett weaved a man-up blast from across the pool off an assist by Alex Whittam at 4:10 before Kielan Crow converted on a five-meter penalty shot with 56 seconds remaining for a 3-1 lead.
The margin expanded to 5-1 in the opening minutes of the second period as Schofield cashed in a five-meter penalty shot at 7:20 and lobbed a ball into the cage at 6:47 for the Blue Jays.
Fordham climbed back into the contest with a 3-0 run fueled by back-to-back strikes by Mikey Edwards at 2:21 and 1:37 on the heels of a natural marker by Ryan Hultman with 3:53 showing on the clock to make it a 5-4 game.
However, Schofield completed his quarter-trick with another marker at 1:26 before Barrett accepted a long outlet pass from goalie Jeremy Selbst for his team's seventh goal of the half and a 7-4 scoring margin at halftime.
The Rams again climbed back into the contest as Arat found the cage with a back-hand at 6:39 and tossed in a 6-on-5 score at 4:43 to move Fordham back to within one at 7-6.
Hopkins and the Rams counterpunched throughout the remainder of the period as Eli Levitt scored at 4:24 for Hopkins, Powell pumped in a goal on a man-up opportunity at 2:20 for Fordham and Charlie Weintraub netted the eventual game-winner at 1:13 off another 6-on-5 chance to make it 9-7 through 24 minutes of play.
For the third period in a row, the Rams charged back into the game as Jake Bakas connected on a shot with 6:21 remaining in the fourth period to inch within 9-8.
But, the Blue Jays received a pair of gifts from Victor Batista Medina who was whistled for a flagrant foul against Barrett which gave Hopkins a five-meter penalty shot and a man-up chance.
Crow converted the five-meter at 2:38 immediately following the foul and, following an ejection on Fordham goalie Christian Flessner, Schofield hammered in the ensuing 6-on-5 chance at 2:18 for the 11-8 final score.
In cage, Flessner finished with nine stops for the Rams, while Selbst picked up the victory with a game-high 13 saves with a five-meter penalty block.
Fordham will meet the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning in the seventh place game. The Rams are 2-1 against the Engineers this year picking up 8-7 and 9-8 victories, while falling 13-10.
Scoring Recap
Fordham Goals: Ali Arat (3), Mikey Edwards (2), Jake Bakas, Ryan Hultman, Alex Powell
JHU Goals: Ross Schofield (5), John Barrett (2), Kielan Crow (2), Eli Levitt, Charlie Weintraub
Saves: Fordham - Christian Flessner (9) ; JHU - Jeremy Selbst (13)
Exclusions: Fordham - 14 ; JHU - 10
Advantage Opportunities: Fordham - 2-for-10 ; JHU - 6-for-14
