By Eric Brod
Senior Writer
The men’s water polo team opened its season with three wins at the Navy Open this past weekend in Annapolis, Md.
On Sunday, the Orange and Blue capped off an impressive weekend with a 16-13 victory over the Fordham Rams.
The team tallied eight goals in the third frame to take a commanding lead. Brian Barron ’13 led the Bison with three goals.
Teammates Beau Caillouette ’12, Julian Colina ’14, Richie Hyden ’11 and Howie Kalter ’11 each contributed two goals, Kalter also offered three assists. The team achieved 12 ejections.
Earlier on Sunday, the team fell to Queens (N.Y.) 15-14.
The Knights were able to set the tone early, netting six first-period goals.
The Bison fought back and evened the score at eight going into halftime, but were outscored 4-3 in the fourth period.
Hyden posted a team-high five goals and two assists. Barron netted three goals and Mike Kimble ’14 scored two.
On Saturday afternoon, the Bison defeated Gannon 22-3.
Hyden and Spencer Richley ’12 led the way, each posting six goals and helping the team to an 11-2 halftime lead.
Trevor Reitz ’14 tallied a team-high five steals.
Hyden believes it is critical that the first-year players gain experience quickly.
“With this many new guys coming there are always going to be setbacks, but I think the guys have done a solid job at practice working together and trying to learn the systems that we run here,” Hyden said.
“We will need the new young guys to gain experience as fast as possible and this weekend was a great opportunity for that.”
Earlier on Saturday, the men took care of Vanguard in a convincing 18-6 victory. Once again, the scoring was evenly distributed among the team, with six players scoring multiple goals.
Goalie Miles Gilhuly ’11 recorded 10 saves.
Hyden believes the team needs to work on improving its overall game and team chemistry.
“We were able to work on some areas of our game that we want to develop, and this will be crucial come league games when we need to execute at a high level,” Hyden said.
“This weekend everyone was able to play a lot of minutes and work on the things we have practiced over the past few weeks.”
The Bison return to action today when they open the Bucknell Invitational.
All games will be played at Kinney Natatorium.