Men’s Water Polo Splits Pair on Day One of Bruno Classic

Saturday, September 2

Cambridge, Mass.

10:30 AM ET

Bucknell University

Harvard

Photo by: Cole Cloonan

Men’s Water Polo Splits Pair on Day One of Bruno Classic

9/2/2023 7:08:00 PM | Men's Water Polo

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Bucknell men's water polo team opened up its 2023 season on Saturday at the Bruno Classic, co-hosted by Harvard and Brown, and the Bison split their two contests at Harvard's Blodgett Pool. The 18th-ranked Crimson downed Bucknell 14-7 in the morning game, but the Bison came back in the afternoon to post a 12-9 win over Iona.

Bucknell has two more games on tap on Sunday, this time on Brown's campus in Providence, R.I. The Bison will play the host Bears at 10:30 a.m., followed by a date with No. 6 Pacific at 2:30 p.m. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.

Bucknell 12, Iona 9

The Bison used a big six-goal second quarter to pull away from Iona and defeat the Gaels for the 12th straight time. Shay Gillearn scored four goals to lead all players, and Aleksa Stefanovic and Walker Butler tallied three times apiece.

Gillearn's 6-on-5 goal tied the game at 2-2 after one period, and then two straight strikes from Butler to start the second-quarter scoring gave the Bison the lead for good. It was a wild final minute of the first half with each team scoring twice. Gillearn and Doruk Ozar both answered Gaels goals, the latter coming with just five seconds remaining to make it an 8-5 game at the half.

Bucknell tacked on four more goals in the third period, with Butler's goal with 16 seconds remaining giving the Bison their largest lead of five goals at 12-7. Iona pulled within 12-9 with 3:15 to play, but Bucknell shut the door from there.

#18 Harvard 14, Bucknell 7

Stefanovic scored three goals and Matt Ryckman added two for the Bison, but the Crimson broke open a tight game with a six-goal run in the second half.

Andu Vlasceanu put the Bison on the board first less than three minutes into the match, and they kept Harvard off the scoreboard for more than five minutes until the Crimson struck twice in 26 seconds to take a 2-1 lead after one period.

Stefanovic's goal with 3:30 left in the third quarter kept Bucknell within 7-5, but Harvard scored the next six in a row to pull away. Kaleb Archer netted four goals to lead the Crimson, who routed Wagner later in the day to start their season 2-0.