The No. 24 Bison women’s water polo team traveled to Princeton, N.J. this past weekend to participate in the competitive Princeton Invite. Other teams in attendance included VMI, Princeton and Saint Francis.

The Orange and Blue opened up the invite Friday with a match against Iona College. While the Bison quickly fell 2-0 down within the first two minutes of the game, they were able to take back the lead after scoring 4 goals in a row to close out the first quarter. The goals were a shared effort between Isabelle Monaghan ’24, Larissa Hodzic ’22 and Paige Furano ’22. The second quarter consisted of two goals, one from each side, ending the half at 4-3, with the Orange and Blue still holding onto the lead.

Iona did not let up going into the last quarters of the game. They tied the game at 4 before Furano scored her second goal to keep the Bison up. Once again Iona tied the game at 5, but Chloe Smith ’23 came in clutch in the last seven seconds of the third quarter.

Despite tying the game in the initial minutes of the fourth quarter, Iona could not come back after Monaghan pushed the Bison ahead with two goals added to the scoreboard. Bella Moynihan ’23 sealed the deal with two further goals, ending the game 10-6.

The Bison picked back up Saturday morning in a match against Saint Francis. With a fresh win under their belt, the Orange and Blue came out strong, scoring five goals in the first period of the game. Moynihan, Smith, Monaghan, Furano, and Hodzic each contributed to this impressive first round.

Saint Francis was able to find the back of the net once in the second, which was then answered by goals from Furano and Hodzic. 

The Bison’s opponents started chipping away their lead early into the third, taking the score to 9-5. They were able to get as close as 10-7 late in the game, but Megan LaCroix ’23 scored a crucial goal that helped the Bison secure the 11-8 victory. Annika Lampen ’25 finished with an impressive 5 goals to help the Bison towards their win.

On the same day, the Orange and Blue also played No. 21 Princeton; this match unfortunately ended the former’s winning streak. The Bison ended the first quarter down 2-1 and the gap only grew, by the end of the half they were down 9-1. Moynihan and Boati Motau ’25 were each able to find the back of the net to score the Bison’s only other two goals of the game. The Tigers fought hard and ended the game with a score of 14-3.  

The fourth and final game was played against VMI, where the Bison had a season high score of 16 goals and won by nine goals, the goal-margin since a win last April.

The Orange and Blue set the tone by taking a 5-1 lead in the first quarter. Two goals came from both Hodzic and Monaghan and one from LaCroix. The Bison kept up the momentum flowing into the second quarter. Motau, Smith and Izzy Lippolis ’25 each scored, pushing the lead to 8-3 by the half.

The Bison kept dominating into the later quarters of the game and finished with a score of 16-7. The team had 11 different scorers come out of the match. Sidney Finkler ’25 and Caroline Oates ’25 both scored their first collegiate goals in the win. Lampen again impressed with seven saves and two assists.

“As a team, we try to adopt the mindset of being physically and mentally tough and to take the weekends one game at a time,” Furano noted. “We go into the weekend confident that we worked hard in practice on developing and refining skills that will help us succeed in these tough matches.

The Bison had a successful 3-1 weekend and now hold onto a record of 5-2. The next match will be held at the University on Feb. 26. The match will also be “senior night” for Furano and Hodzic.

Furano said she is “looking forward to enjoying the experience and playing against a competitive team. This game is not just a celebration for the seniors, but for all my teammates and their families who have been so dedicated to our sport.”