Bison Men’s Water Polo had their final two regular season games this weekend against Fordham University and Wagner College. The games solidified their ranking in the 2023 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Championship tournament, which the Bison are hosting in the Kinney Natatorium.
The Bison fell 16-12 to Fordham to start the weekend, with the Rams closing the first half with an 11-5 lead. However, despite the six-point deficit, there were several impressive Bison goals from center defender Hasan Mogultay ’25, attacker Aleksa Stefanovic ’26, Shay Gillearn ’25, center defender Gregory Alexander Nordheim ’27 and center Doruk Ozar ’24.
The Orange and Blue came out strong in the second half with a goal from Stefanovic in a one-on-one with the Rams goalie, as well as a goal from Mogultay in another one-on-one with the goalie. “Although we were not as successful as I hoped this past weekend, I went into the weekend and will continue to head into our weekends with the goal of contributing to the team in and out of the pool as much as possible,” Stefanovic said.
Despite another four goals being scored to bring the Bison’s score to 12, it was not enough to catch up to the Rams.
“After the Fordham game, our team debriefed the areas where we needed to improve, specifically regarding starting the game at full force, as we did not start strong during the Fordham game. We reminded ourselves to remain mentally tough for the Wagner game, especially considering we were playing them at their home pool,” Stefanovic said.
Despite wanting to come out strong, the Bison had a hard time catching up with the Seahawks’ early lead and ultimately fell 15-13 to Wagner. The first half of the game ended with another 6-point deficit, with the Seahawks leading 9-3.
As for the third quarter, Mogultay found the back of the net, and then the two teams went back and forth, finishing the quarter 11-7 Wagner.
Although they lost, there were some notable performances, including from Stefanovic, who had five goals, Mogultay, who had two goals and Ozar, who had two goals.
Looking towards November, the team will now start to prepare for the championship tournament at home.
“We emphasized the importance of being consistent throughout the entirety of the game as we want to show a strong performance the entire time in order to see positive results. We will continue to focus on our endurance in order to come strong for the Championship tournament,” Stefanovic said.
Bucknell hosts the Mid Atlantic Championships Nov. 17-19.
