ROCK ISLAND, Ill. -- Wheaton College (Mass.) men's water polo junior Jack Ruggiero (Hamden, Conn.) hammered home a pair of goals and dished out an assist to lead the Lyons offense as they fell to No. 3 Johns Hopkins University 26-11 in their final Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game on Saturday. 

Wheaton fell to 1-15 following the loss while Johns Hopkins improved to 18-6 following the win.

Wheaton was led by Ruggiero and junior Brian Otto (Escondido, Calif.) as each finished with two goals and one assist. Ruggiero managed to draw three ejections and picked up one steal as well. First years Sean Spooner (Saline, Mich.) and Stefan Kecman (Chevy Chase, Md.) both finished with a pair of goals while sophomore Bray Turner (Dallas, Texas), junior Josh Vander Wagen (Brookfield, Ill.) and junior Michael Ruemelin (Chicago, Ill.) rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece. Junior Spyros Rapsomanikis (Corfu, Greece) had two assists while sophomores Hudson Kosiba (Birmingham, Mich.) and Jackson Kesserman (Buena Park, Calif.) each finished with one helper. Wheaton split the goalkeeping duties between sophomore Nic Boyer (Toledo, Ohio) and  first year Leo Upson (Woodside, Calif.) as Boyer took home a save and Upson finished with four. 

Junior Phillip Long (Cupertino, Calif.) led the Blue Jays' offense with six goals and an assist while first year Jasper Hirt (Greenwich, Conn.) finished with four scores and one helper. First year David Edelman (Palo Alto, Calif.) took home a hat trick while six other Blue Jays finished with two goals. Sophomore Mason Hofmann (Naperville, Ill.), senior Max Blecher (Princeton, N.J.), junior Patrick Rooney (San Diego, Calif.), sophomore Matthieu Giauque (Ross, Calif.), sophomore Ben Lucas (Orinda, Calif.) and sophomore Brody Mars (Newport Beach, Calif.) each earned the honors while senior Ethan Babel (San Francisco, Calif.) rounded out the scoring with one goal. Senior goalkeeper Chris Poisler (Houston, Texas) made six saves, one steal and added an assist while playing the entire game.

Wheaton quickly found themselves staring down a deficit after Rooney started the scoring just 23 seconds into the game. Hofmann scored soon after to double their lead, and it was clear the Blue Jays were off and rolling. Hofmann scored again before Long, Edelman and Babel added goals of their own. Edelman scored his second just before the minute mark and Lucas scored with 45 seconds on the clock to give Johns Hopkins an 8-0 lead. Wheaton was able to scrounge up some offense as Vander Wagen swam down the field and scored with a single second left to play in the frame. 

Long was granted a five-meter penalty shot and converted it to start the second quarter, but Otto was open on the end of a Rapsomanikis pass and finished his chance to make it 9-2. Rooney scored his third just 17 seconds later before Mars scored another penalty shot to make it 11-2. Kesserman and Spooner linked up on the next possession and Spooner wasted no time in firing his shot home to keep Wheaton in the chase. Giauque scored seconds later himself before Kecman took over the game. With three minutes left in the first half, Kecman slammed home a pair of goals in just 40 seconds of play. Kecman's dominant stretch helped the Lyons keep the Blue Jays off the scoreboard for the last two minutes before the break.

37 seconds into the third quarter and foul play led to Wheaton receiving a chance from five meters in front of goal. Otto swam up to take it and finished the chance with ease to make it 13-6 as the Lyons continued to inch closer. Hirt, Blecher, Long and Giauque scored down the stretch to help Johns Hopkins pull away, but Ruggiero slowed them with a goal with 63 seconds remaining in the frame. Mars answered back with a goal on the next possession but Ruemelin responded in kind with a goal in the final 10 seconds to make it 8-20. 

Wheaton opened up the fourth quarter with another chance from five meters out, but their shot went just wide as they continued to search for momentum. Hirt hurt their hopes with a goal just after the miss, but Ruggiero stoked the embers of their aspiration with a goal on the next possession. Lucas kept the Blue Jays moving forward with a goal soon after, which was followed up by scores from Hirt and Long. Turner fired home for a goal on the next possession, but Hirt wiped away that effort with a goal a minute later. Long scored his final goal for the night with 38 seconds to go, but Spooner still had one more in the chamber. He scored with 12 seconds remaining for Wheaton's third goal in the last 15 seconds of a quarter that evening. Unfortunately the effort was not enough for Wheaton as they fell to the Blue Jays, 26-11.

Wheaton will continue MPSF play tomorrow as they take on Washington & Jefferson at 1:30 pm at Augustana. Wheaton is 2-6 against Washington & Jefferson all-time including a recent 11-10 victory at the Presidents' home pool. Johns Hopkins will also continue MPSF play tomorrow as they face Penn State Behrend at 11:00 am.