Ranked No. 18 in the nation according to preseason polls, the men’s water polo team took on MIT, St. Francis Brooklyn, and Pacific on Sept. 3-4 to open their competitive season. The Orange and Blue had high expectations for their first set of games at the Bruno Classic in Providence, R.I.

The men had a strong start with a 2-0 record. In their first game on Sept. 3, they defeated MIT 15-8 with ease. Their second game was a different story, featuring a dramatic 7-6 comeback victory against No. 20 St. Francis Brooklyn. The Bison lagged behind St. Francis by a margin of 4-0 in the first quarter. After reconvening, they emerged strong enough to outscore St. Francis 4-0 in the second half. Rade Joksimovic ’20 then scored in the final 31 seconds, propelling the Bison to victory. On the defensive end, goalie Charlie Niehaus ’18 recorded 15 total saves. Strong starts are familiar to the Bison, who have now started off six of the past seven seasons with two consecutive wins.

Although this tremendous momentum prepared the Bison for their game against No. 4 Pacific on Sept. 4, they ultimately fell 15-7 to the Tigers. Last season, Pacific had a competitive record of 23-5 and continued to show their success in the pool. The opposing team scored the first seven goals of the game. Although the Bison had a slow start, they started building confidence when Nate Hunter ’17 scored a goal in the beginning of the second quarter. Sean Daley ’17, R.J. Moore ’17, Marko Djordjevic ’19, Jeff Hagen ’18, and Joksimovic all had goals in the second half. The Orange and Blue outscored the Tigers 5-4 in the second half, but could not catch up to Pacific’s strong start in the first half.

The Bison will return on Sept 16-18 to compete at the Bison Invitational.