South Florida Water Polo Club Alumni Start off their Collegiate Season
With everyone getting back to school in the past two weeks or attending new schools, this past weekend the NCAA collegiate water polo season for the men kicked off with a bang, many predictable victories by top programs and some unexpected drama between tight games. With South Florida Water Polo Club boasting five players currently competing in NCAA collegiate water polo, we want to recap the opening weekend.
However, not all teams started their season this past weekend, for Connecticut College and Carson Neidart, currently a senior at Connecticut College and a captain of the water polo team. Their first games will come at the Naval Academy Invitational on September 13th-14th, their first game will come against Penn State Behrend and will see them compete on the east coast of the country until later in the season in late November when they will compete at the MPSF Championships at Stanford University.
Carson Neidart, Senior, Connecticut College. Carson playing for the Connecticut College Camels.
While Carson did not start his season just yet, four of our other athletes did. Gregory Nordheim, who had coached at South Florida WPC earlier this summer, is current junior at Bucknell University, started off his season at the Bruno Classic, a tournament hosted by Brown University and Harvard University, the tournament is typically regarded as opening day for the season on the east coast. Along with Gregory, we had two other players compete at the tournament with MIT, while Andras Beleznay, a junior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) studying physics and aerospace engineering, was not able to suit up this weekend, he will be expected to provide major minutes throughout the season for the Engineers while he is available, the other player for MIT is David Ranaudo, a freshman at MIT studying mechanical engineering, David recently travelled with South Florida to California over the summer where we earned an amazing silver medal in the gold division at the Junior Olympics.
Andras Beleznay, Junior, MIT. Andras playing for South Florida WPC before arriving at MIT.
While the three boys on the east coast started off their seasons in a tournament that saw multiple games, on the west coast our very own Max Zelikov finally saw the pool while playing for Stanford. Max Zelikov, a redshirt freshman at Stanford University, coming off an unbelievable offseason at Stanford that saw him be one of the United States Junior National Team’s top performers in the National League and saw him help the group also claim an incredible Senior Nationals title, capped off his summer with a historic silver medal for the U.S., its highest ever finish on the men’s side in age-group play at the U20 World Championships that were hosted in Croatia earlier this summer, Max was the first male athlete from Florida to be selected onto either the junior or senior national team for the United States since the Wigo twins, Janson and Drac, nearly twenty years prior. The Stanford Cardinal started their season off scorching hot, an early lead against Loyola Marymount University in the first quarter by a score of 6-2, Max providing his first goal of his Stanford career as well as two more goals, one in the second quarter and another in the third quarter. The explosive Cardinal offense would stay the course and would go on to defeat the Los Angeles-based LMU Lions by a score of 15-8, Max would record his first career hat-trick by the third quarter and also provide his first career assist.
With Max announcing himself in a big way on the biggest stage in American water polo, we will be watching with keen eyes when Max and Stanford will play against UC Davis next weekend, a match that will be streamed on ESPN+ on September 6th at 1 PM Eastern Time.
Max Zelikov, Redshirt Freshman, Stanford University. Max competing with Team USA Junior Team at the U20 World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.
Back on the east coast, both Bucknell University and MIT would finish their weekends with tough 1-3 records. With Andreas Beleznay unavailable for the MIT Engineers, it would be a good opportunity for others to compete, including David Ranaudo, the first game for MIT would prove to be the toughest of the weekend, starting the season off against last season’s NCAA semifinalist and east coast powerhouse, the Fordham University Rams, though the game started off somewhat close, the east coast powerhouse quickly proved their dominance and beat MIT by a score of 8-20. MIT’s second game would come against the Bucknell University Bisons and would pit David Ranaudo and Gregory Nordheim against one another in their first collegiate showdown. Bucknell jumped out to an early lead and took a 7-2 halftime lead with both South Florida boys getting a decent number of minutes, however, the second half would prove disastrous for the Bisons, the Engineers would claw back to tie the game at 11-11 going into overtime, two more goals from each team would make the game go into a golden goal overtime which MIT would prevail with a perimeter shot that would find the back of the net and give the Engineers a historic victory 14-13 win over Bucknell. The second day of the Bruno Classic proved much less fruitful for the Cambridge-based squad, a 13-15 loss at the hands of Wagner College would be followed by a 11-18 loss to Gannon University would leave the Engineers on a down-note, however, it was also a moment to remember for David Ranaudo, earning several “firsts”, in the second quarter he would complete a turn move at center to draw his first exclusion and on the ensuing pass out to his teammate the shot would quickly be converted, earning him his first exclusion drawn and assist of his young collegiate career, however, in the third quarter David would unleash a stunning shot from about 7 meters out stepping in with his fakes, the shot would come down beautifully off the crossbar into the goal, giving him his first career goal.
What’s next for MIT and our boys? Some more training and their next games will be at the Naval Academy Invitational in mid-September where they will see Carson and Connecticut College in their fourth game of the tournament.
David Ranaudo, Freshman, MIT. David playing for South Florida WPC before arriving at MIT.
While MIT competed at Harvard University the whole weekend, Bucknell would spend the first day of the Bruno Classic at Harvard University and then the second day at the other hosting facility at Brown University. Greg and Bucknell started the weekend off on a tough note, losing their first three games before squeaking out a victory on their fourth game, the opening game for Bucknell’s campaign was against hosts Harvard University, a tough game from Bucknell would see them lose a closely contested game 12-15, Greg would make his first entry of the season for the Bisons on a live entry pass into his center that would be converted into a goal for Bucknell. Bucknell’s second game was the aforementioned loss to the MIT Engineers. Seeking to rid themselves of the tough start to the season, the Bisons jumped into the waters at Brown University to once again play the hosts, however, the Brown Bears came out roaring and won the game by a score off 11-19 with Bucknell never holding a lead in the game, thankfully for the Bisons the first tournament of the season would not be all fruitless, as they were able to defeat the Iona University Gaels by a score of 16-15, taking a lead of 13-10 into the fourth quarter, the Bisons struggled but prevailed to hold on and secure their first victory of the season.
Next on the menu for Bucknell? Next weekend they will attend the Princeton Invitational where their first game will be against last year’s national champions and the current top-ranked team in the nation against the UCLA Bruins.
Gregory Nordheim, Junior, Bucknell University. Greg playing for the Bucknell Bisons.
Good luck to all of boys competing in NCAA water polo this season, we are proud of you!
Stay atop of your schoolwork and make us all proud!
