Men's Water Polo vs. Johns Hopkins 9-24-22

Men's Water Polo Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Kotskar's Late Goal Leads Gannon to Win over Johns Hopkins

Golden Knights split pair of matches in day one of Conference Crossover

ERIE, Pa. – The Gannon University men's water polo team split a pair of contests on the first day of the Conference Crossover hosted by Mercyhurst at the Hallman Aquatics Center. The day began with a 20-19 win over Johns Hopkins in a rematch of last year's Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships second-round match. That was followed by a 24-21 setback to Mount St. Mary's later in the day as Gannon is now 1-5.
 
The Golden Knights will now play two more contests on Sunday. They take to the pool at 9:00 a.m. to face No. 20 George Washington before wrapping up the start of the conference season tournament with a match vs. Bucknell at 3:40 p.m. The Bison are receiving votes in the national poll and edged Gannon 9-7 last year in the fifth-place match of the conference championships.
 
Gannon 20, Johns Hopkins 19
In a rematch of last year's second-round Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championships contest, Alex Kotskar (Voula, Greece) scored the winning goal with 1:44 remaining in the match and the Blue Jays came up empty on three shots after that. It was the first win of the season for the Golden Knights, who upset Johns Hopkins 13-9 in last year's playoffs. The back-and-forth affair featured 13 ties and seven lead changes, and neither team led by more than two goals. Johns Hopkins broke an 18-18 tie with a goal with 4:36 remaining, but Gannon would score the final two goals. They knotted the game at 19-19 on Ben Fribourg's (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) penalty shot with 3:05 to play. Gannon gained the lead for the first time since midway through the third quarter when Kotskar, a freshman from Greece, beat goalkeeper Kyle Pearson with 1:44 left. After that Alvaro Marco (Madrid, Spain/IES Ortega y Gasset) saved one shot, another Blue Jays' shot was off the mark, and Fribourg blocked a final shot. Kotskar led Gannon with five goals, with Drago Marjanovic (Belgrade, Serbia/North Allegheny (Pa.)) contributing four goals and four assists and Fribourg also scoring four goals. Marjanovic returned after missing two contests in the season-opening Bruno Classic due to an injury. Marco played the entire match in goal and finished with 13 saves. A key for the Golden Knights was the performance on the power play. Gannon was 6-of-10 while Johns Hopkins was 0-of-7. Johns Hopkins finished with 44 shots and Gannon 35.
 
Gannon Scoring: Alex Kotskar (Voula, Greece) 5 goals, Drago Marjanovic (Belgrade, Serbia/North Allegheny (Pa.)) 4 goals and 4 assists; Ben Fribourg (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) 4 goals; Vlad Mickic (Subotica, Serbia/Nikola Tesla) 3 goals; Matt Hardkrader 2 goals; Marty Kaverman Jr. (Erie, Pa./McDowell) 1 goal and 1 assist; Dylan Schmitzerle (Richmond, Va./Huron) 1 goal.
Goalie Saves: Alvaro Marco (Madrid, Spain/IES Ortega y Gasset) 32 min – 13 saves
 
Mount St. Mary's 24, Gannon 21
Gannon dropped to 1-5 as the Golden Knights were unable to slow down Tomasso Baldineti, who scored 10 goals. Ben Fribourg (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) and Alex Kotskar (Voula, Greece) each scored six goals. Fribourg added an assist and the six goals and seven points were both career highs for the sophomore. Drago Marjanovic (Belgrade, Serbia/North Allegheny (Pa.)) contributed three goals and three assists while Vlad Mickic (Subotica, Serbia/Nikola Tesla) also scored three goals. Gannon actually had a 29-28 advantage in shots, but unlike in the first game when Gannon excelled on the power play, they were just 1-of-9 vs. Mount St. Mary's while The Mount was 5-of-10. The Mount broke a 6-6 tie with a goal at the end of the first quarter and never trailed after that. Gannon trailed 15-11 at the half and Mount St. Mary's scored the first five goals of the third quarter to go ahead 20-11 midway through the period. Gannon mounted a comeback to close to within 21-18 with just over six minutes remaining when Fribourg scored his third straight goal, but The Mount was able to hold off the Golden Knights.      
 
Gannon Scoring: Ben Fribourg (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) 6 goals and 1 assist; Alex Kotskar (Voula, Greece) 6 goals; Drago Marjanovic (Belgrade, Serbia/North Allegheny (Pa.)) 3 goals and 3 assists; Vlad Mickic (Subotica, Serbia/Nikola Tesla) 3 goals; John Vieira (Erie, Pa/Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy (McDowell)) 1 goal and 1 assist; Marty Kaverman Jr. (Erie, Pa./McDowell) 1 goal; Dylan Schmitzerle (Richmond, Va./Huron) 1 goal; Matt Harkrader (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) 1 assist.
Goalie Saves: Jacob Hollo (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) 32 min.-0 saves
 
 
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Players Mentioned

Ben Fribourg

#5 Ben Fribourg

D/Util
Sophomore
Matthew Harkrader

#20 Matthew Harkrader

D
Sophomore
Jacob Hollo

#1 Jacob Hollo

Gk
6' 1"
Senior
Marty Kaverman Jr.

#2 Marty Kaverman Jr.

D
5' 11"
Senior
Alvaro Marco

#1A Alvaro Marco

GK
Sophomore
Drago Marjanovic

#18 Drago Marjanovic

D/Util.
5' 11"
Graduate Student
Business
Vladimir Mickic

#13 Vladimir Mickic

2-M
Junior
Dylan Schmitzerle

#3 Dylan Schmitzerle

D/2-M Def.
6' 0"
Junior
John Vieira

#10 John Vieira

D
Senior
Pre-Medicine
Alexandros Kotskar

#6 Alexandros Kotskar

D/Util.
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Ben Fribourg

#5 Ben Fribourg

Sophomore
D/Util
Matthew Harkrader

#20 Matthew Harkrader

Sophomore
D
Jacob Hollo

#1 Jacob Hollo

6' 1"
Senior
Gk
Marty Kaverman Jr.

#2 Marty Kaverman Jr.

5' 11"
Senior
D
Alvaro Marco

#1A Alvaro Marco

Sophomore
GK
Drago Marjanovic

#18 Drago Marjanovic

5' 11"
Graduate Student
Business
D/Util.
Vladimir Mickic

#13 Vladimir Mickic

Junior
2-M
Dylan Schmitzerle

#3 Dylan Schmitzerle

6' 0"
Junior
D/2-M Def.
John Vieira

#10 John Vieira

Senior
Pre-Medicine
D
Alexandros Kotskar

#6 Alexandros Kotskar

Freshman
D/Util.