By Chris McCree

Contributing Writer

The men’s water polo team began league games with three road losses this weekend against Johns Hopkins, No. 18 Navy and George Washington. With the losses, the Bison extended their losing streak to five games and fell to the bottom of the CWPA Southern Division. The Orange and Blue played tough games against all of their opponents but fell short in the last minutes of each contest.

The Orange and Blue began the weekend with a 13-12 loss during their Friday night match-up against Johns Hopkins. The Bison, who were able to overcome a three-goal deficit at the half, fell victim to a game-winning goal by Hopkins’ Ross Schofield with two seconds left on the clock.

Richie Hyden ’11 totaled career highs of nine points and six goals against the Blue Jays. Spencer Richley ’12, Brian Barron ’13 and Paul Reamey ’11 each chipped in two goals.

The combined effort of goalkeepers Miles Gilhuly ’11 and Matt Napleton ’13 produced a season-high 14 saves for the Bison.

During a heated match-up on Saturday against Navy, the Bison’s comeback attempt fell short in a 10-9 loss. After falling behind 8-3 in the first half, the Bison were able to outscore Navy 6-2 in the second half to get it to 10-9 but couldn’t manage another goal. Hyden, Barron and Howie Kalter ’11 had multi-goal games.

After defeating the Colonials 21-3 just a week earlier in Boston, the Bison were defeated 10-7. The Bison matched the Colonials goal-for-goal through three quarters but were outscored 3-0 in the fourth to end a disappointing weekend.

Poor play on the defensive end seems to be the team’s Achilles’ heel this season.

“Everything starts with our defense, which we did not do a great job with,” Sean Coghlan ’11 said.

Over the team’s three games, the Bison defense gave up a combined 33 goals.

“The team is going through some growing pains at the moment. The guys’ lack of trust in our game plan and each other cost us some close games this weekend,” team captain Hyden said.

The Bison are off this weekend but play Princeton on Oct. 9.

“We have … two weeks of good practice to work out the kinks and more forward from here,” Hyden said. “The next two weeks of practice are vital if we want to be successful come championship season.”