No. 12 Navy Torpedoes No. 20 Johns Hopkins 12-7 to Advance to Eastern Title Game

Alex Whittam

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Kevin Bell (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) scored four goals while Kyle Wertz (So., San Diego, Calif./Westlake), Stevie Ray (So., Baytown, Texas/Ross S. Sterling) and Johnny Meiners (Sr., Ft Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) each added a pair as the No. 20-nationally ranked Navy Midshipmen used a four goal first period and five goal third period to ground the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays 12-7 in the semfinals of the 2009 Men's Eastern Championship at MIT.

The victory puts Navy into its fifth consecutive Eastern title game, set for 2:30 p.m. on November 22, as the Midshipmen dropped the 2005 affair to St. Francis College, but captured the 2006, 2007 and 2008 titles as Navy will seek to win its 10th Eastern Championship.  If the Midshipmen can accomplish the feat of earning their fourth straight Eastern crown, Navy will join Bucknell University (1977-80) and the University of Massachusetts (1993-96) as the only programs to win four consecutive league championships.

Navy wasted no time in taking the lead and running out to a commanding lead as Bell pumped twice and buried a man-up goal into the cage 51 seconds into the game at the 7:09 mark of the first period to put the Midshipmen on the board.  Meiners added to the lead with a natural goal at 5:31 before Ray ripped a man-up tally into the mesh at 3:05 to make it 3-0.  Luke Baldwin (Jr., La Grange Park, Ill./Fenwick) closed out the Mids four-goal spurt with 35 seconds left in the period with his only marker of the day.

Hopkins broke-up the shutout attempt in the second period with a man-up goal by M.G. Gonzalez (Sr., Calabasas, Calif./Oaks Christian) with 5:48 left in the first half, but Navy launched another barrage as Bell rung up his second tally of the day at 3:43 and Ray mowed his way through Hopkins' defenders to score on an advantage chance at 2:41 to make it 6-1 with 2:41 showing on the period clock.  The Blue Jays moved back to within four goals prior to halftime on a man-up rip by John Barrett (Jr., Clarendon Hills, Ill./Fenwick) as Hopkins went to their bench trailing 6-2 at the break.

The lead never went below three goals the rest of the way as Navy pushed the margin to five and Hopkins responded to make the score 8-5 with 3:57 left in the third period.  Facing a potential Hopkins comeback bid over the final eleven minutes of play, the Midshipmen torpoeded the Blue Jays' hopes as Meiners scored a man-up goal (3:27), Wertz put home an even strength score (2:40) and Bell cashed in on a man-up chance (:12) to make it 11-5 after three periods of play.

JHU attempted to mount a heroic comeback in the final eight minutes with a natural goal by Barrett at 6:12)and a man-up tally by Kielan Crow (Fr., Portola Valley, Calif./Lick-Wilmerding) with 5:03 left on the clock, but Navy's defense and a score by Jordan Carter (Jr., Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Groves) at 4:29 iced the win as the Midshipmen advance to face either No. 18 Princeton University or Bucknell University for another berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship at Princeton University in early December.

In cage, Brett Rajchel (Sr., Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park) picked up the win for the Mids with three saves, while Jeremy Selbst (Jr., Old Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) swatted seven saves for the Blue Jays.

Hopkins will next be in action at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 22 against the loser of a semifinal game between No. 20 Princeton and Bucknell as the Top Four teams at the 2009 Eastern Championship will all be from the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Southern Division.

Navy Goals: Kevin Bell (4); Johnny Meiners (2); Kyle Wertz (2); Stevie Ray (2); Jordan Carter; Luke Baldwin

JHU Goals: Antonio Aguilera (2); John Barrett (2); Keilan Crow; Kyle Gertridge; M.G. Gonzalez

Saves: Navy - Brett Rajchel (3) ; JHU - Jeremy Selbst (7)

Exclusions: Navy - 12 ; JHU - 9

Advantage Opportunities: Navy - 6-for-9 ; JHU - 4-for-12

Sprints: Navy - 1-for-4 ; JHU - 3-for-4

Referees: Humberto Navarro, Alex Stankevitch