WASHINGTON, D.C./BALTIMORE, Md. — The Bucknell University men’s water polo team pulled out two come-from-behind wins at Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) rivals George Washington University and Division III No. 8-ranked Johns Hopkins University. The Bison rallied past GW, 13-11, in Washington, D.C., and then headed up to Baltimore for a wild 17-16 victory over the Blue Jays.
The Bison are now 5-7 overall and 2-1 in MAWPC play this season.
Down 16-15 inside two minutes to play during the evening game at JHU, Jack Bruce and Andu Vlasceanu scored the tying and go-ahead goals to give Bucknell a dramatic one-goal win in Baltimore.
The game was knotted at 9-9 at the half, and neither side led by more than two goals until the Bison rattled off the first three of the second half, the last from Hasan Mogultay, to take a 12-9 lead. It was still a three-goal margin after Doruk Ozar made it 13-10, but Johns Hopkins scored three straight to draw level. Aleka Stefanovic scored with 0:16 left to give Bucknell a 14-13 lead after three quarters, but the Blue Jays rallied to go up 16-15 late in the fourth quarter.
Bruce powered home a shot from the right slot to tie it up again with 1:46 to go, and then Johns Hopkins hit the crossbar on its next possession. That set the stage for Vlasceanu’s game-winner, a shot off the bar and down with 1:01 remaining. The Bison still had to navigate two defensive possessions, and they came up with a steal and a last-second field block from Ozar to seal the win.
Stefanovic and Mogultay led Bucknell with four goals apiece. Walker Butler and Shay Gillearn added two each, and nine different Bison wrote their names on the scoresheet in a balanced offensive attack.
Bucknell and Johns Hopkins were neck and neck for the first half of play. The Blue Jays pulled ahead in the first quarter with a 5-4 run against the Bison. The Bison saw goals from Gillearn, Butler and a pair from Mogultay.
Bucknell wasted no time attempting to close the gap when Stefanovic notched his first goal of the game at 5:58 in the second quarter. Mogultay’s goal capped a 4-1 run and gave the Bison a 9-7 lead, but the Blue Jays drew level at the half on a goal by Owen Bartlett with just one second remaining on the clock.
Bucknell started the day with a two-goal win over the Revolutionaries of GW, made possible by a suffocating defensive effort in the fourth quarter.
The Bison led 6-5 at the half, but George Washington surged ahead 10-7 with a big third-quarter run. Bucknell closed within 11-10 on Matt Ryckman‘s buzzer-beater to end the third, and then it was all Bison in the decisive fourth quarter.
Mogultay’s penalty shot early in the quarter tied the game at 11-11, and then Stefanovic skipped home a shot with 5:44 remaining to give the visitors the lead back. Gillearn added an insurance marker with 2:08 to go. Meanwhile, goalie David Dumitru made a couple of key stops and the Bison defense smothered the Revolutionaries with the game on the line.
Release courtesy Bucknell University Athletics Communications
