Men’s Water Polo Tallies 28 Goals but Falls to Two Ranked Foes at Princeton Invitational

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell men's water polo team dropped a pair of high-scoring games to ranked opponents on Saturday at the Princeton Invitational. The Bison fell 16-12 to No. 15 Harvard in an early morning match, then fell 20-16 to No. 19 Santa Clara despite seven goals from freshman Tyler Hedblad.

Bucknell fell to 2-4 on the season, with all four losses coming to top-20 opponents, and the Bison will face another one on Sunday in No. 6 Princeton to close out the weekend.

In the Harvard game, Bucknell trailed 4-3 after one period and 8-5 at the half before the Crimson stretched its lead by outscoring the Bison 5-2 in the third.

Aleksa Stefanovic led the Bison with four goals, followed by Matt Ryckman with three and Jovan Udovicic with two. Hedblad, Maxime Touzot, and Hasan Mogultay tallied one each, and goalie David Dumitru made 11 saves.

Hedblad logged a career-high seven goals against Santa Clara later in the day, and the Bison hung within arms reach after trailing 7-4 after one quarter. It was 12-9 at the half and 15-13 after three before Santa Clara had a 5-3 edge in the fourth period.

Hedblad's seven goals were the most scored by a Bison this season. Stefanovic, Mogultay and Shay Gillearn tallied two apiece, and Udovicic, Ryckman, and Sean Tunnicliff also found the cage. Dumitru saved six shots.

Touzot paced Bucknell with seven ejections drawn over the two games.

Sunday's Bucknell-Princeton game will be streamed on ESPN+ starting at 9 a.m.

Men’s Water Polo Tallies 28 Goals but Falls to Two Ranked Foes at Princeton Invitational

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Players Mentioned

David Dumitru

Shay Gillearn

Tyler Hedblad

Hasan Mogultay

Matt Ryckman

Aleksa Stefanovic

Maxime Touzot

Sean Tunnicliff

Jovan Udovicic