Bison Men’s Water Polo competed in the Harvard Invitational this past weekend. They took on #13 San Jose State and Long Island University on Saturday and returned to the pool on Sunday for a matchup against #11 Harvard and Salem.
Saturday, the Orange and Blue opened up against San Jose State. The teams were neck and neck throughout the first quarter, neither managing to pull away with a comfortable lead. In the second quarter, the Bison saw goals from Shay Gillearn ’25, Hasan Mogultay ’25, Aleksa Stefanovic ’26, Sean Tunnicliff ’27, Greg Nordheim ’27 and two from Tyler Hedblad ’28. SJSU closed out the half strong with three unanswered goals, putting them in the lead.
The Bison fell behind in the second half and never managed to close the gap. San Jose State pushed their lead to five goals and held onto it strongly. Defensively, David Dumitru ’27 kept the Bison in the game with 13 saves. However, San Jose State still came out with a 13-7 victory.
The Bison continued the day with a match against Long Island University. The first quarter started slower than the start of their previous game. They went into the second quarter trailing by one but managed to take hold of the game by the half. Through the rest of the game, the Orange and Blue dominated offensively, which granted them a 21-13 victory.
Stefanovic and Jovan Udovicic ’28 finished the first half with five goals each and Gillearn followed with three. Hedblad and Tunnicliff added two each, while Jack Murad ’26, Ned Smith ’28 and Matt Ryckman ’25 each tallied one.
On the defensive end, the Bison dominated. In the second half, they only let up five goals. Ryckman and Udovicic drew three ejections each. Dumitru finished the match with 24 saves and three steals.
Sunday’s match against Harvard was a nail-biter. The Crimson and Bison traded goals back and forth for the majority of the game. The Crimson pulled ahead in the fourth quarter by maintaining a three point lead for the final minutes. The Bison fell short, losing 19-17.
The weekend ended against Salem with yet another fight drawn by the final whistle. Both teams started off slow, combining for three goals going into the second quarter. Salem crept ahead slightly, leading by 2 going into the half with the score sitting at 7-5.
Both teams netted the ball three times in the third quarter which still kept Salem two goals ahead. The final quarter was fought hard by the Bison and they even went on a 4-3 run to cut the gap. Salem held up strong and was able to finish with a 13-12 victory against the Orange and Blue.
Men’s Water Polo has a busy weekend ahead with games against George Washington, Johns Hopkins, Navy and Mount St. Mary’s on Oct. 26 and 27.
