Bucknell Men's Water Polo Preps for Tough Slate at Princeton Invite This Weekend

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The No. 16 Bucknell University men's water polo team is set for a tough weekend at the Princeton Invite. Bucknell is scheduled to play four games, two each day, all against ranked competition this weekend.

Bucknell opens up the Invite on Saturday at 9:15 a.m. against No. 14 California Baptist, before taking on No. 18 Harvard at 6 p.m. The Bison will continue the Invite against host No. 12 Princeton on Sunday at 9:15 a.m., before rounding out the weekend with a tough matchup against No. 3 Stanford at 2:15 p.m. Sunday's matchup against Princeton will be streamed live on ESPN+ at this link.

Bucknell returns to action after a 1-1 weekend that saw matchups against two more ranked opponents in No. 9 UC Davis and No. 3 Cal at the Navy Invite.
The start marks a difficult month of September for the Bison, who will likely face two more ranked foes at home at the Bison Invite in Fordham (currently ranked 16^th) and Saint Francis Brooklyn (currently receiving votes).
Josh Yardley began his senior season at Bucknell well, leading all scorers with 14 goals throughout the weekend. Two other Bison managed at least eight goals over the weekend in Andu Vlasceanu and Hasan Mogultay.
12 different Bison in total scored over the weekend, with Mogultay, Jack Bruce, Matt Ryckman, and Shay Gillearn each scoring their first career goals.
Jack Lewis reached the 75-goal mark in his career for the Bison after his two-goal weekend, while Vlasceanu's eight-goal tally ranks the Bucharest, Romania native first among active players in career goals with 84.
Bucknell takes on Harvard for the first time since the two teams met in the NCAA Play-In game in 2019. Bucknell managed to defeat the Crimson 13-12, to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1984. The two teams have historically played close contests, with the last ten meetings being decided by two goals or fewer. Vlasceanu played a big part in that game, scoring a goal in the victory.
Bucknell has never defeated Stanford, with the two teams last meeting in 2017, an 11-3 victory for the Cardinal.
After the Princeton Invite, the Bison will look forward to hosting four games at Kinney Natatorium as a part of the Bucknell Invite. Bucknell will begin the Bucknell Invite with a MAWPC matchup against Fordham on September 18 at 10 a.m. before taking on Wagner, Saint Francis Brooklyn and Salem.

Bucknell Men's Water Polo Preps for Tough Slate at Princeton Invite This Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Jack Bruce

Shay Gillearn

Jack Lewis

Hasan Mogultay

Matt Ryckman

Andu Vlasceanu

Josh Yardley