Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Water Polo European Tour Update #6
7/3/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
July 3, 2007
Entry by Todd Newcomb, Bucknell Associate AD
For other entries, please click here.
We awoke early this morning, and after grabbing a bagged meal that the Hotel Aqua was kind enough to provide, boarded the bus at 7 a.m. for our first of two trips into the country of Slovakia. It was nearly a three-hour ride, and all that most passengers on the bus saw was the back of their eyelids. After having our passports stamped at the border, we arrived in downtown Kosice at approximately 10 a.m. and proceeded to the Kosice Pool Club.
The facility is hidden well off the main road, but once you walk through the parking lot and enter the gates you are treated to two very nice 33-meter pools and a built-in viewing area for fans to watch all the action. After waiting for the rec swim to conclude, the team jumped in the pool at 10:30 and began to prepare for its first game with the Kosice U-18 Club team.
Kosice got on the board first, grabbing an early 2-0 lead and pleasing the nice crowd that had assembled to watch the game, but the Orange and Blue responded by tallying the final goal of the first period on a shot from Sean Robinson in the post. Nick Donahue played large in the net, making four saves in the first quarter, and Bucknell trailed 2-1.
The Bison took their first lead of the game in the second period on back-to-back tallies from Alex Lampley and Andrew Nelson. After Kosice scored to tie the game at 3-3, Bucknell took the lead for good on a goal by Mark Masterson, closing out the first half with a 4-3 advantage.
After Jason Rechel posted back-to-back tallies to give Bucknell a 6-4 edge, Kosice responded with a goal of its own. But the Orange and Blue blew the game open with a 5-0 run, and went on to win 11-7.
Rechel, Nelson and Masterson led the Bison offense with two goals apiece, while Robinson, Lampley, Lee Anderson, Randy Ang and Alex Lovell provided the other goals for the Orange and Blue. Donahue finished with seven saves in net, while Luke Belenky had two.
Following the game, the Bison were treated to a nice lunch in a nearby indoor pool facility that was set-up by the coach of the Kosice team. The Slovakian National Team uses the facility to train, but they were not there at the time we paid our visit.
A walking tour of the downtown Kosice area followed on what was just a beautiful day. We saw the largest Gothic Style Catholic Church in Central Europe, the Dome in downtown Kosice. Both the inside and outside of the church were just stunning. The city square was loaded with folks out walking, shopping and just enjoying the day. The team enjoyed some downtime in the park, and got a kick out of Nick Donahue's weak attempt to get water out of a nearby well. After some instruction and encouragement from the locals, he was able to finally draw water and fill his bottle.
We returned to the Kosice Pool Club to prepare for our 5:15 p.m. game against the U-18 team, who by the way were nicknamed the Hornets. For the first time during the trip, we got on the scoreboard first when Kyle Rosyln fired a shot past the Kosice keeper early into the opening period. Kosice answered the goal midway through the session, and the score stood at 1-1 after the initial eight minutes of play.
The Bison came out well prepared and motivated in the second quarter and scored four times to take a 5-3 lead into the halftime break. Alex Lampley led the way with a pair of goals from the post, while Peter O'Keefe and Randy Ang also tallied markers in the period. Bucknell put the game out of reach by outscoring the Hornets 5-2, including a 4-0 run, in the second half.
Lampley led all Bison scorers with three goals, followed by Rosyln with a pair. O'Keefe, Ang, Jason Rechel, Josh Sunday and Johnny Stupp rounded out the score sheet for the Orange and Blue. Nick Donahue made seven saves in net, while Luke Belenky finished with four.
Following the game the coaches spent some time thanking and saying goodbye to the Kosice staff, while I took the team around the corner for an "American treat" - a visit to McDonald's! You see, the teams here in Hungary do not use any drinking water at all during their games, and consequently our team becomes quite dehydrated. No better way to relief that than a McDonald's shake or cold drink (OK, so most of the guys got a burger too!).
We boarded the bus for the three-hour journey home. As one might expect with a long training trip such as this one, there are sometimes problems that crop up. Well, our first real problem happened on the way home when the air conditioning stopped working five minutes into the trip. Even though we were able to open the two hatches on the roof of the bus, it was still a long, hot (very hot) ride home to the Hotel Aqua.
After a 9:30 p.m. dinner - seems like we eat an awful lot here in Hungary - the team received its instructions for Tuesday from Coach Zeigler and then went off on their separate way - some to their rooms and some out into town for the brief time period they had before curfew.
