EMMITSBURG, Md. (November 18, 2022) – Mount St. Mary's men's water polo fell in their opening game of the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Championships to Johns Hopkins by an 18-17 final.
Moving into the consolation bracket, the #7 Mountaineers face #11 Mercyhurst in a 1 p.m. matchup Saturday (Nov. 19).
The Mountaineers found themselves on the comeback trail for most of the game.
Chrysostomos Valavanis countered an opening score by the Blue Jays to level proceedings at 1-1, but Hopkins countered with four of the next five to lead 5-2 after a quarter.
Thanks to a pair of five-meter penalties from
Tommaso Baldineti, Mount St. Mary's began to rally in the second period.
Michael Lemishko chipped in two goals as well to pull within 8-7 at halftime.
The second half became a back-and-forth battle between the two sides. Baldineti was able to crack a tie twice at 10-10 and 11-11 in the third before Hopkins scored to maintain a one-goal advantage into the fourth. It was the duo of Baldineti and
Alexandros Bellesis providing the offense as the Mount engineered a push for the win. Baldineti's sixth gave the Mount its first lead, and Bellesis' fourth increase the score to 16-14.
Things looked bleak for the Blue Jays at that point, especially as goalkeeper Kyle Pearson committed a game exclusion and forced his team to go to backup Shayan Shadiq. But that all changed when they powered a comeback of their own, scoring twice in 25 seconds for a 16-16 tie.
Bellesis logged his fifth from the left side with 2:27 remaining to help the Mount regain the lead, but JHU forced another tie, drew an offensive foul, and finished off the ultimate game winner with a minute left. Mount did receive a 6v5 but the tying attempt sailed over the bar.
Like Friday's contest, Saturday's game will be hosted by Fordham at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatics Center.
Johns Hopkins 18, Mount St. Mary's 17
Team 1 2 3 4
Mount St. Mary's 2 5 4 6
Johns Hopkins 5 3 4 6
Goals: Baldineti 7, Bellesis 5, Fischer 2, Lemishko 2, Valavanis 1
