ANNAPOLIS, Md. (November 23, 2024) – Mount St. Mary's men's water polo defeated Johns Hopkins at the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship 11-10 to book their spot in the fifth-place game tomorrow, November 24 at 10:30 a.m. against Bucknell.
 
To start the match, the Blue Jays moved out to an early 3-1 lead, with a solo goal from Aaron Tarr marking the only score for the Mount in a tough quarter. A goal from Kacper Cieplik within the two-meter line marked the only goal scored in the second quarter for the Mount as Johns Hopkins added two more goals to their tally to lead 5-2 heading into the halftime break.
 
Coming out of the halftime intermission, the Blue Jays scored within three minutes of the quarter's start to further their lead in the match. From then on, the Mount found an extra gear to step up to as the team fired four goals past Johns Hopkins while Vasilije Marinkovic let only one more in the net. Michael Lemishko also played lock down defense in the hole set, intercepting and blocking away passes past the two-meter line.
 
With the Blue Jays up 7-6 heading into the final quarter, the Mount continued their consistent form from the third. The tying goal from Alexandros Bellesis came within a minute of the swim off followed by the Mountaineer's first go-ahead goal by Kiahi Horan at the six-minute mark. Johns Hopkins responded back by both tying the game and retaking the lead within a minute with only four minutes left in the quarter. The duo of Bellesis and Tarr once again proved pivotal in front of the net as the Greek and South African combine for two more goals to take a 10-9 lead with two minutes left.
 
An equalizing goal from the Baltimoreans came soon after, only for Tarr to once again get to the corner of the cage and fire the ball past the goalkeeper, regaining the lead. With less than a minute to go, a late power play push by the opponents was successfully thwarted while the ball was taken out to the edge of the boundaries by Wes Reising to run out the clock and end the game with a win for the Mountaineers.
 
Bellesis ended the game with five goals tallied to his name while Tarr ended the game with four goals, with his final deciding the contest. Solo goals came from both Horan and Cieplik respectively while Marinkovic ended the game with 11 saves in the cage.  

Mount St. Mary's 11, Johns Hopkins 10
 
Team                          1    2    3    4    F 
Mount St. Mary's              1    1    4    5    11
Johns Hopkins                 3    2    2    3    10
 
UP NEXT
 
The Mount faces off against Bucknell tomorrow, November 24 at 10:30 a.m. in the third and final match of this year's MAWPC Championship in the fifth-place game.