The Orange and Blue men’s water polo team took on Navy in Annapolis, Md., as well as Wagner and Mount St. Mary’s at home this past weekend.

This was their final weekend of competition in their regular season, as the MAWPC Championship occurs in two weeks. 

On Saturday Nov. 5 the Bison fell to Navy, the final score a close 8-6 in favor of the Midshipmen. 

Despite being down to Navy for the majority of the first half, Bucknell managed to tie the match 4-4 when Josh Yardley ’23 scored with 2:28 left in the half. Despite these efforts, Navy was able to take the lead again shortly after–the score at the half being 5-4 Navy. 

In the second half, the Midshipmen scored two more goals until Jack Murad ’26 found the back of the net for the Bison. The scoring went back and forth from this, with Yardley scoring again.

Also contributing goals were Andu Vlasceanu ’23, Hasan Mogultay ’25 and Shay Gillearn ’25. These goals were great moments for the Bison, but they were unable to come up with the win. 

“We had a tough game Saturday, but it was a great learning experience going into the championship,” Gillearn said.

On Sunday, the team took on Wagner and Mount St. Mary’s, earning victories in both matches. 

The win against Wagner was a defensive victory, with the final score being 11-5. After falling behind to the Seahawks in the first period, the Bison managed to come back.

Aleksa Stefanovic ’26 and Mogultay put two on the board to take the lead 16 seconds before the first quarter buzzer.

For the remainder of the game, there were flurries of goals scored by the Bison. Mogultay and Stefanovic found the back of the net yet again, alongside Vlasceanu, Gillearn and Doruk Ozar ’24. 

The game against Mount St. Mary’s was a landslide victory for Bucknell, 22-10. This game was especially spectacular, as seniors Jack Lewis, Vlasceanu, Colby Paine, Will Gildea, Adrien Touzot and Yardley were honored prior to the match. 

Paine and Yardley had a very successful senior day match, each contributing four goals against The Mount. Gildea also got on the board, and Vlasceanu and Lewis found the back of the net multiple times.

While the final score made the match look easy for the Orange and Blue, there were many close moments, and at one point The Mount managed to pull within three. The Bison never gave up and proved to persevere. 

“We had a great weekend. We spent all week getting ready and our hard work paid off. We were really happy to go 2-0 on Sunday. We played two good teams, so it was a good confidence booster,” Gillearn said.

This successful weekend and overall season for the Bison will prepare them well, as they enter the MAWPC Championship as the No. 3 seed. The Orange and Blue will either face Navy or Mercyhurst first on Friday Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. in Bronx, N.Y.