ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Aleksa Stefanovic (Jr., Belgrade, Serbia/”Sportium” Sportska Gimnazija) scored eight times and Player of the Game/goalkeeper David Dumitru (So., Bucharest, Romania/Jean Monnet Theoretical) made 16 saves as Bucknell University closed out its 2024 men’s water polo season with a 23-11 victory over Mount St. Mary’s University in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championship Fifth Place game.
A three-time (2016, 2019, 2020/Winter 2021) MAWPC Champion, the Bison (13-16, 9-8 MAWPC) add a Fifth Place mark to a legacy which includes runner-up (2018, 2022) and Third Place (2017, 2023) finishes at the MAWPC championship tournament.
Mount St. Mary’s (6-29, 4-13 MAWPC) – which previously claimed Eighth (2021), Ninth (2022) and Seventh (2023) placements at the MAWPC Championship – fell behind 4-0 less than four minutes into the game and was unable to recover against a Bucknell squad which overwhelmed the Mountaineers.
The Bison outscored Mount St. Mary’s 5-3, 9-0 and 4-3 in the first, second and fourth quarters, respectively, while the two squads played even with both accounting for five markers during the third quarter.
Stefanovic (eight), Sean Gillearn (Sr., Woodland Hills, Calif./Harvard-Westlake) (five) and Jovan Udovicic (Fr., Belgrade, Serbia/Oaks Christian School (Calif.)) (four) combined for 17 goals to outscore Mount St. Mary’s. Jack Murad (Jr., Stanford Calif./Menlo School), Sean Tunnicliff (So., Long Beach, Calif./Long Beach Wilson), Matt Ryckman (Sr., Caracas, Venezuela/Looms Chaffee (Conn.)), Greg Nordheim (So., Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton Community), Tyler Hedblad (Fr., Poway, Calif./Poway) and Maxime Touzot (Jr., Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) accounted for the remainder of Bucknell’s offense to give all Dumitru all he required to notch victory guarding the cage.
Alexandros Bellesis (Jr., Athens, Greece/Vouliagmeni Lyceum) posted a hat-trick with three goals for the Mountaineers with Nicholas Wallace-Whitfield (Sr., Nassau, Bahamas/Queens College), Chrysostomos Valavanis (Jr., Athens, Greece/Leonteio Lykelo Neas Smirnis), Michael Lemishko (Sr., Wayne, Pa./Upper Merion), Drasko Sekaric (Gr., Montenegro), Kacper Cieplik (Gr., Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada/Beaconsfield), Zach Fischer (Sr., Chicago, Ill./De La Salle Institute), Nate Valentine (So., Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) and Kiahi Horan (Gr., Papamoa, New Zealand/La Salle University) each tacking on solo markers.
Sherif Hosni (Jr., Cairo, Egypt/Hamilton Boys) made 10 saves in taking the loss for Mount St. Mary’s.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Mount St. Mary’s University |
3 | 0 | 5 | 3 | – | 11 |
| Bucknell University | 5 | 9 | 5 | 4 | – | 23 |
| Bucknell Goals: | Aleksa Stefanovic (8); Sean Gillearn (5); Jovan Udovicic (4); Jack Murad; Sean Tunnicliff; Matt Ryckman; Greg Nordheim; Tyler Hedblad; Maxime Touzot | |||||
| Mount St. Mary’s Goals: | Alexandros Bellesis (3); Nicholas Wallace-Whitfield; Chrysostomos Valavanis; Michael Lemishko; Drasko Sekaric; Kacper Cieplik; Zach Fischer; Nate Valentine; Kiahi Horan | |||||
| Saves: | Bucknell – David Dumitru (16) ; Mount St. Mary’s – Sherif Hosni (10) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Bucknell – 9 ; Mount St. Mary’s – 14 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Bucknell – 12-for-14 ; Mount St. Mary’s – 5-for-9 | |||||
| Sprints: | Bucknell – 3-for-4 (1st, 2nd, 4th) ; Mount St. Mary’s – 1-for-4 (3rd) | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | MAM – Bucknell (Jack Bruce, 3:22 left in 4th Q) | |||||
| Officials: | James Wolff, Jim Lewis | |||||
Mount St. Mary’s University’s Alexandros Bellesis (#14) & Bucknell University’s Jovan Udovicic (#10)
Bucknell University’s Ian Shultz (#8) defends Mount St. Mary’s University’s Kacper Cieplik (#11)
Bucknell University’s Greg Nordheim (#14) scopes out an opening as Mount St. Marys’ University’s Nate Hopkins (#2) awaits an action
