This past weekend, Men’s Water Polo hosted the Bucknell Invitational, facing top 20 teams including No. 17 Fordham, No. 5 Princeton and No. 20 Air Force.
The Bison opened up the weekend against No. 17 Fordham. They managed to put up the first two goals of the game, one coming from attacker Shay Gillearn ’25 and the other from attacker Aleksa Stefanovic ’27. Fordham didn’t put up their first goal until around the five-minute mark. The Bison ended the quarter with a 5-3 lead.
The Bison added four more goals in the second half, three of which went unanswered. Defender Jack Murad ’27 put up the final goal in the third quarter. Both teams were neck and neck throughout the game. The Bison’s last goal of the game was when Gillearn scored off a one-on-one battle with the opposing goalie, tallying his third goal of the game in the final seconds. The Bison ended up losing 14-11 to the Rams.
In the second match of the day, the Orange and Blue faced No. 5 Princeton. The Tigers established dominance early on, and the Bison were not able to recover. Stefanovic, Gillearn and Hasan Mogultay ’25 each scored in the first half. The Bison lost 13-7.
The next morning, the Bison sought redemption as they faced No. 20 Air Force. Coming out firing, the Orange and Blue put up a 6-0 run. Goals came from Gillearn, Stefanovic, Matt Ryckman ’25 and Andu Vlasceanu ’24. Air Force’s first goal wasn’t scored until the final 54 seconds of the first quarter.
Walker Butler ’24 responded with back-to-back goals to push the lead to 8-1. Not too long after, Stefanovic put up his second goal of the game, followed by another goal from Sean Tunnicliff ’27. Goalkeeper David Dumitru ’27 was a brick wall in the first half, only letting up three goals.
Gillearn scored his third goal of the game followed by Doruk Ozar ’24 in the third quarter. Stefanovic scored a third as well in the fourth. The Bison ended the weekend on a 13-8 victory game.
The Bison hit the road this weekend to face George Washington and Johns Hopkins.
