Bucknell Men’s Water Polo participated in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Tournament, which spanned from Friday, Nov. 22 to Sunday, Nov. 24, and was hosted by Navy at Lejeune Hall. The Bison came into the three-game event as the fifth seed with hopes of a championship run.

Bucknell faced the Wagner Seahawks in the first round. The Bison met Wagner’s early 2-0 lead with goals from Matt Ryckman ’25 and Sean Tunnicliff ’27. The two teams traded blows for much of the first half until Jovan Udovicic ’28 put the Bison ahead for the first time with his first goal of the game. Despite the hot start, the Seahawks battled back and, in the final period, mounted a comeback to seal the deal and deliver a 12-9 victory. The late momentum swing by Wagner sent Bucknell into the consolation bracket for the tournament, ending their chances at a conference title. 

The Bison needed to bounce back quickly to face the Mercyhurst Lakers the following day. Tunnicliff continued his good form from the day prior with an early goal, and his efforts combined with goals from Shay Gillearn ’25, Tyler Hedblad ’28 and Maxime Touzot ’26 led to an early 4-0 Bison lead. Bucknell’s momentum led to a 7-1 lead, but a late first-half surge from the Lakers left Bucknell with a 9-5 advantage at halftime. The back-and-forth nature of the first half ended there, as the second half was a dominant display from the Bison from start to finish. Bucknell’s blistering scoring pace resulted in a 14-3 run, with nine different contributors scoring by the end of the game. The offensive excellence was met with equal excellence on the defensive end. Mateo Herrera ’26 delivered one of his best performances of the season, with 14 stellar saves. The second-half surge concluded in a 21-7 victory for Bucknell, sending them into the fifth-place game of the tournament on their third and final day in Annapolis. 

The Bison’s final challenge of the weekend came against the Mountaineers of Mount St. Mary’s. The Mountaineers lost to Navy in the first round and defeated Johns Hopkins in the second round to earn themselves a spot in the fifth-place match. The star of the show this time around was goalkeeper David Dumitru ’27, who equaled Herrera’s performance from the previous day with 14 saves of his own. On the other side, the duo of Gillearn and Aleksa Stefanovic ’26 scored eight times in the first half to give Bucknell a 14-3 lead. Udovicic scored four goals in the period as well. In the second half, the Bison faced minimal resistance and cruised to a 23-11 victory. Tunnicliff, Ryckman, Hedblad, Touzot, Jack Murad ’26 and Greg Nordheim ’27 all found themselves on the scoresheet by the end of the game. 

Bucknell’s ability to bounce back from Friday’s loss and string together two consecutive victories earned them fifth place in the MAWPC Tournament. Their season concluded with a record of 13-16, but the two victories ended it on a positive note with excitement and improvement hopefully in the near future.