The Bison men’s water polo team finished the Harvard Invitational with a 3-1 record, winning against Wagner, Harvard, and Brown. The Orange and Blue opened up action on Oct. 13 by topping Wagner 10-8. This was the second Bison win over the Wagner Seahawks in the same week.

Marko Djordjevic ’19 led the pack by netting four goals. Twelve seconds into the game, the Bison took the lead on a goal by Jack Lewis ’22, which was set up by Djordjevic. Two goals by Djordjevic led to a 3-1 Bison lead at the end of the first period. The Bison opened up to a 5-2 lead on a goal from Mitchell Scott ’22 in the second quarter. Rade Joksimovic ’20, whose recent performance earned him recognition in Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd, scored a goal to put the Bison up 9-5. The Seahawks battled back, scoring two straight goals. However, the Bison scored one more insurance goal to finish the game with a 10-8 win.

The Orange and Blue then defeated Harvard by a slim margin. The Bison jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Joksimovic and Jared Stanley ’21. However, Harvard answered with two goals of their own. It was a back and forth battle in the first period. At the end of the first period, the Orange and Blue had a 6-5 lead, including another Joksimovic goal. In the second quarter, the Bison pulled away to a 8-5 lead. However, Harvard quickly neutralized the score on three straight goals. The half ended with another Joksimovic goal with 20 seconds left to give the Bison a 10-9 lead. Coming out of the half, the Orange and Blue held a 13-11 lead, which included goals from Djordjevic and Cooper Dolan ’20. The Crimson tied the game at 16 with just over three minutes into the fourth quarter, but a combination of Dolan’s last minute goal and goalie Jack Otto ’22 late game saves sealed a Bison win.

The Bison then dropped a game to Princeton by a score of 12-11. The Bison came out strong and fast, with Joksimovic netting three goals, giving them a 4-2 lead after the first period. They extended their lead to four on goals from Djordjevic and Dolan. With a goal by Logan Schofield ’20, the Bison retained their four-goal lead going into the half with a 8-4 advantage. Joksimovic scored to give the Orange and Blue a 9-5 lead, but Princeton went on a 3-0 scoring run to cut the deficit to one. Stanley scored to give the Bison a 10-8 lead but it was cut to one again. Princeton scored three more goals to make it 12-10. A late rally was not enough, and the Bison dropped this game 12-11.

The Bison finished off the Invitational with a 13-6 win over Brown. The Bison jumped out to a commanding 4-1 lead as Schofield scored two goals. After a goal from Joksimovic, the score was 5-2 going into the halftime break. Joksimovic, Schofield, Stanley, and Jack Lewis each scored goals to make it 9-3. After that the Bison scored four goals to end the game 13-6.

The Bison are now 16-3 overall, 8-1 in conference play, and 5-2 in neutral site games. The next game will be at the Julian Fraser Memorial, where the Bison will play Cal Baptist, San Jose State, Santa Clara, and Air Force on Oct. 20.