Bison Women’s Water Polo opened up their 2023 season at the Princeton Invite this past weekend, facing strong competition from University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), UC San Diego  and Wagner. The Bison battled hard the entire weekend. 

The Orange and Blue were first met by twelfth ranked UCSB, who proved to be a challenging opponent. The Gauchos began the scoring just nineteen seconds into the match, however Bella Moynihan ’23 responded thirty seconds later, evening the score 1-1 with less than a minute on the clock. 

The Gauchos scored three straight goals to lead 4-1 into the second quarter. 

The Bison scored their second goal of the match thanks to Isabelle Monaghan ’24, but the Gauchos 4-0 response eventually led them to an 8-2 lead. 

The Bison got on the board once more in the second quarter, heading into halftime down 8-3. While the Orange and Blue continued to fight, the Gaucho’s offense proved to be too much, as they continued their scoring to a 16-7 USCB victory.

The Bison had two more matches on Sunday, Jan. 29 where they first faced No. 15 UC San Diego. 

Chloe Smith ’23 scored the opening goal, taking an early lead. 

The Bison held the Tritons off for a few minutes, but San Diego ultimately responded with two goals of their own. 

Moynihan then tied the game for the Orange and Blue, but that would be the last Bison goal for a while as the Tritons went on an 11-0 run. 

The match ended 18-5 in favor of UC San Diego.

In their final game of the Invite, the Bison faced another ranked opponent in No. 17 Wagner, which started the match off with a 4-0 run. 

Coming from behind, the Bison eventually got on the board off of a late first quarter goal. 

The Orange and Blue entered the half down 8-3. 

While they continued to fight, Wagner’s offensive effort was too much to handle, as they scored six more goals, ending the match 14-6.

“The weekend was a great opportunity to play high-level teams and get better,” Moynihan said. “We learned a lot as a team and had great chemistry. We are at a good starting point for the season, so we need to continue to build off this.”

The Bison showed very promising results against three nationally ranked opponents. 

The team is headed to Providence, R.I. this upcoming weekend, where they will play a series of four games at the Bruno Classic. Their first opponent is Austin College, followed by Santa Clara on Saturday, Feb. 4. The Bison will close out the weekend with two more matches against Wagner and Marist on Sunday, Feb. 5.