The Bison men’s water polo team went 1-1 at home this past weekend with games against Navy and George Washington University. The No. 14 ranked team took a step closer towards clinching the No. 1 seed in the MAWPC Championships with their 14-10 win against Navy. Rade Joksimovic ’20 led the Bison with seven goals, recording his 500th career goal during the second period, making him one of two players to reach this historic milestone.

Although the Bison beat Navy during their first game, they were edged out by George Washington during their second game of the afternoon. With the 1-1 weekend, the Orange and Blue will enter their last regular-season game at Fordham with an 18-8 overall record and 9-2 record in the MAWPC.

The Bison beat Navy for the second time this season after beating the Mids on Oct. 12. Joksimovic led the charge for the Bison, scoring five of his seven goals in the first half. Goals from Andu Vlasceanu ’23, Cooper Dolan ’20, Mitchell Scott ’22 and Joksimovic gave the Bison a 5-0 lead to start off the game. Logan Schofield ’20 also made a big impact during the early part of the game, drawing three ejections that Joksimovic converted into goals for the Bison.

Schofield continued to help the Bison in the second half after drawing another ejection, setting up Joksimovic’s penalty shot goal to open the third period. Schofield drew six ejections for the Orange and Blue during the game and proved to be a dominating presence in the middle for the Bison. He also scored on a long pass from goalkeeper Adrien Touzot ’23, giving the Bison a 10-2 lead.

Later on in the afternoon, the Colonials took a close 11-10 match as the Bison celebrated seniors Joksimovic, Dolan, Schofield and Cullen Jacuzzi. George Washington took control with a 4-1 lead to start the game and, although the Bison battled back later on, the Colonials always seemed to have a slight upper hand.

The Orange and Blue tied the game up at 8-8 but George Washington responded with two goals of their own for a 10-8 lead. Although the Bison fought hard and brought the score within one, the Bison would not be able to even the score again.

“The last two games at home perfectly describe our season so far. We were able to start strong against Navy, a very strong team, but were unable to carry over the momentum and start strong against our conference rival George Washington. Even though we were disappointed to lose an important game at home, I am confident that we can play as a team and pull off an even more important win this weekend at Fordham,” Joksimovic said.

The Bison will wrap up their regular season this weekend on the road with a game against Fordham on Nov. 16 at 2 p.m.