LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Navy water polo team fell in its first round matchup versus Johns Hopkins in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship tournament on Friday night by a score of 17-9. Playing at Bucknell's Kinney Natatorium, the sixth-seeded Mids (7-17) were defeated by the third-seeded Blue Jays (5-17) who used a fast start in the first quarter to hold a wire-to-wire lead on their way to the win. In the loss, junior Jared Castillo (League City, Texas) recorded a team-high three goals to lead Navy.

The game began with the Blue Jays netting four of the first five goals over the opening six minutes. Down 2-0, Castillo registered a goal for the Mids before two straight Blue Jay scores made it 4-1. Over the final two minutes of play in the first quarter, Johns Hopkins expanded its lead out to a 6-2 margin. Castillo was the lone Navy scorer during this stretch.

Trailing by four goals, Castillo was at it again for the Mids as he completed his personal hat trick at the 6:14 mark of play in the second quarter. With the score 6-3 in Hopkins' favor, the Blue Jays put some distance between themselves and the Mids with a three-goal run between 5:09 and 1:52. Goals on consecutive possessions by Shepherd Warren (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) and David Huber (Sr., Fort Washington, Pa.) made it a 9-5 game before a late score by the Blue Jays before halftime sent the contest into intermission at 10-5.

Coming out of halftime down five goals, Navy and Johns Hopkins battled for over three minutes of scoreless play before the Mids saw their deficit expand to six at the 4:39 mark. 1:45 later, Tyler Zimmerman (Jr., McLean, Va.) responded for Navy with his first goal of the game as he took a pass from the right wing and ripped a shot past the goalie into the left corner. The back-and-forth action continued as Hopkins went back up six at 12-6 before Navy's Nik Galvan (Fr., Henderson, Nev.) responded with a lobbed shot over the goalie in a one-on-one situation at 1:58. After the Mids cut it to a four-goal margin after Galvan scored again at 0:45, the Blue Jays got it back out to five in their final possession of the third quarter.

Johns Hopkins started pulling away from Navy in the fourth quarter and outscored its opponent, 4-1 in the period. Patrick Carmody (Sr., Fogelsville, Pa.) recorded a power play marker for the Mids in the last stanza before the game went final by a 17-9 score.

In goal, freshman Ronan Williams (Severna Park, Md.) made 10 saves for Navy, while his counterpart Spencer Witte came through with 14 stops for Johns Hopkins.

"A few factors came to make this result for us tonight: excellent play by the JHU goalie, some missed shots on offense and some inopportune defensive lapses," remarked head coach Mladen Stanicic. "We must put this result behind us and start turning our attention to our next game."

The Mids will be back in MAWPC consolation bracket action on Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. tilt versus the seventh-seeded Mercyhurst Lakers. The winner of Saturday's game will advance to the tournament's fifth-place game on Sunday, while the loser will play for seventh place.