Third weekend of NCAA season brings another clash between South Florida WPC Athletes

Week three of the NCAA water polo season would continue the early season proceeds for four of our five NCAA competing athletes. While Bucknell University and Gregory Nordheim took the weekend off to continue early season training, they will be preparing themselves for next weekend games that they will be hosting at the Bucknell Invitational in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. There the Bucknell Bisons will compete on September 20th and the 21st against Salem University, the Air Force Academy, #4-nationally ranked Fordham University and will close their tournament by playing Wagner College.

Whilst Greg and the Bisons were resting we would finally get to see the first action of the season from Connecticut College and club alum, Carson Neidart, the Camels finished their first tournament of the season with a 1-3 record, Carson and his teammates would begin their season with a close loss to Penn State Behrend by a score of 13-16. While the game remained close in the first half with Penn State taking a 5-4 lead over the camels into the second half, the second half would be an explosion of goals on both sides, Penn State would own the third quarter with a score of 8-2, just when the Camels looked down and out they would have a goal explosion of their own in the fourth quarter winning the fourth quarter 7-3, however, the massive third quarter deficit would prove to be too heavy for Connecticut College to surmount. Their second game of the season would be a heavier loss, facing the Mount. Saint Mary’s Mountaineers losing by a score of 12-20, while the Camels were scoreless in the first quarter they kept the Maryland-based opponent within striking distance by only allowing two goals in the first quarter, however, the second quarter would prove to be the difference in the match, the Mountaineers would rattle of six goals to build a 8-1 lead heading into halftime. The only goal of the half for the Camels coming in thanks to their South Florida WPC alum and a team captain, Carson Neidart, his first of the season, the second half would prove to be a more competitive affair for Connecticut College as they would only lose the fourth quarter 4-5 and tie the fourth quarter with another massive goal explosion 7-7. With two losses on the first day of the Naval Academy Invitational, they would look to have a more fruitful day 2. To start the second day of the tournament, the Camels would come to play against Division 3 opponent, Wheaton College, the goal fest for the Connecticut-based team would lead Carson and his teammates to their first win of the season, a 21-7 scoreline would bring the Camels into the winner circle with Carson converting his second goal of the weekend in the second quarter before their second game of the day where they would take on MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) where Carson would come against a few younger South Florida WPC alums in Andras Beleznay and David Ranaudo. The Engineers would take control of the game early and with a 5-2 lead in the first quarter that would only prove tougher to surmount for the Camels when an 8-3 second quarter in favor of the Engineers would blow the game open, a halftime scoreline of 13-5 would finish with a 22-10, Andras Beleznay who was previously unavailable to the Engineers would see his first action of the season at the Naval Academy Invitational and in this game would provide the finishing punch for MIT as he would convert two goals in the fourth quarter of the game.

With a 1-3 record for the Connecticut College Camels, the next time we will see them in action will be on September 20th, where they will have a tiring three games in one day at Brown University. The Camels will first see Pomona-Pitzer College from California in a morning game, a noon game against hosts and northeastern powerhouse Brown University will be sandwiched by an evening game against Johns Hopkins University. Following the three-game stint, the Camels will see a long break before their next game where they will travel to New Rochelle in New York to take on Iona University on October 12th.

While Andras Beleznay and David Ranaudo finished their weekend on a win against Connecticut College, they would actually have a split weekend at the Naval Academy Invitational, their first game would come against the Mount. Saint Mary’s Mountaineers, the game would be Andras’ first game of the season due to previous unavailability, however, the game would start in favor of the Mountaineers who took a 5-3 halftime lead into the third quarter and built what seemed to be an insurmountable 9-3 lead over the Engineers, however, a goal from Andras would prove to be the kickstart the Engineers needed to go on a 5-1 run of their own. Though the two teams tied the third quarter with a 5-5 scoreline, it’d mean that Mount. Saint Mary’s would take an 8-10 lead into the fourth, though it would not last, a 4-2 fourth quarter for the Engineers would lead to another overtime affair for MIT this season, after both teams would come even in the first two periods of overtime it would mean that a golden goal overtime would be necessary. As MIT had done earlier in the season against Bucknell, they would prevail once more and take a golden goal victory by a score of 15-14 to start their weekend in Annapolis. The second game of the day for the Engineers was far rougher, taking on the hosts, #17-ranked Navy, in the first two quarters Navy would score 7 goals in both quarters, quickly building a 14-5 lead that would only become more pronounced when they would win the third quarter by a score of 8-2. While the hosts would win the game 25-9 over MIT, Andras would hit the back of the net twice, once in the second quarter and once in the fourth quarter to continue his hot streak for the season. Ending the first day of the invitational with a 1-1 record, the Engineers would look to rebuild form on day two starting with a game against Salem University, however, it was not to be. The Salem Tigers would win each of the first three quarters by one goal, giving them a three-goal lead headed into the fourth quarter with a score of 12-9, though MIT would win the fourth quarter with a 5-3 score, it would only make the final score 15-14 in favor of Salem University, a goal int the second quarter from Andras Beleznay would continue his streak of consecutive games with a goal and bring his tally up to four on the season. With the aforementioned game between Connecticut College and MIT, Andras would bring his total goals in the tournament to six goals in four games and as he and David Ranaudo a freshman on the team who provided solid minutes throughout the tournament helped the Engineers to a 2-2 record against strong competition at the Naval Academy Invitational.

What’s next for the Engineers? They will also be at Brown University like Connecticut College on September 20th and the 21st, however, their paths will not cross that weekend. MIT will take on fellow Boston-area team, Wheaton College, then they will take on Johns Hopkins University followed by southern California teams, Chapman University and Pomona-Pitzer College. Following another tournament at Brown University, the Engineers will begin conference play on October 4th when they travel in the morning to play against Princeton University at Princeton in the morning and then up to New Rochelle to take on Iona University on the evening of October 4th, they will remain in the New York area where they will take on Long Island University on October 5th in Brooklyn. All three of the games will have implications for seeding when it will come to the NWPC Conference Championship tournament on November 21st-23rd.

While our alumni on the east coast continue to help their squads with early season victories and competition, on the west coast Max Zelikov and a young Stanford University team would continue their dominant start to the season with a perfect 5-0 record and a pair of wins against top-20 ranked opponents, #19-ranked UC Santa Barbara and #13-ranked UC San Diego. The Cardinal continued their perfect start to the 2025 campaign on Friday, September 12th when they got in the water at Thousand Oaks to take on the Santa Barbara Gauchos where they would cruise past their rivals by a score of 16-7, Stanford came out hot converting the first four goals of the game within minutes of the start before the Gauchos were able to retaliate with a goal of their own, Max would be involved in the second goal working quickly off a teammate’s drawn exclusion, he would step in high on his legs with big fakes, drawing two blockers to him before making the pass over to teammate, Botond Balogh, who would convert a strong cross-cage skip shot, however, Max would not be done in the first quarter, his first goal would come in the first quarter on a 6-on-5 opportunity where Stanford had run a designed play to find Max open with a strong angle close to the goal after a pick set by his teammate on the post against his blocker, Max would rise up high on his legs and hammer home a strong nearside skip for the last goal of the first quarter that would build a 6-1 lead in favor of the north-California based squad, Max’s next intervention in the game would be in the third quarter, while facilitating play in the right hand-side of the pool, he timed his teammate, Ryan Ohl, to perfection on a step out, a strong cross-pass from Max would find Ryan on the hand who would easily convert to give Stanford the 11-2 lead, it would be the very next possession that Max would unleash the arm that he is so coveted for, stepping in from about eight meters, faking on his legs, Max would have a quick break in his fake before rifling his second goal of the game past the Santa Barbara goalkeeper into the upper right corner of the goal. Along with another steal, Max would end the day with two goals, two assists and a steal to his name, continuing his dominant start to the season, however, the game against Santa Barbara would be just a preview of the show Max was about to put on against UC San Diego. On Saturday, September 13th, a day before the Stanford - UC San Diego game, the Cardinals would be visited by a special guest, three-time Olympian and Stanford graduate from the class of 2015, Alex Bowen, Bowen is regarded as one of the country’s greatest players ever, a strong right hander with elite shooting capabilities from the weakside he would get to chat with his younger Stanford friends before they took the game on Sunday. It would be Max, who now plays a similar position to that which Alex played throughout his college and professional careers overseas that would be the difference in the game. As Stanford would hammer the Tritons with a 15-4 scoreline, Max would have his best game in the collegiate ranks yet, converting six goals on six shots and tacking on a steal as well, Max would have hat-tricks in both halves, starting from the opening possession of the game where he would convert a quick cross-cage catch and shoot situation to give Stanford the lead in the game that they would not relinquish, three more goals from Stanford as well as a pair from UC San Diego would make everyone think that Stanford would take a two goal lead into the second quarter, however, Max would have his word, firing a stunning skip shot nearside from the right hand-side of the pool he would place the ball past the goalkeeper even when the goal keeper was prepared for it to give Stanford a 5-2 lead headed into the second period. With Stanford running on all engines a pair of goals from his teammates, Max would step up again to convert another shot to give Stanford an 8-2 lead and complete his first half hat-trick. With the game in full control by the Cardinal, Max would continue his onslaught, converting the first goal of the second half bringing the score to 9-2 and his own tally on the day to four goals. Max would find the back of the net for a second time in the third quarter, converting a 6-on-5 opportunity after a pass from teammate, Ryan Ohl. Max would finish the day the same way he started it, converting Stanford’s last goal to bring his goal tally to six on the day on as many shots, the ridiculous goal output actually ties Max for the most single-game goal tally by a Stanford player this season, teammate Botond Balogh scored six goals during the season opener against Loyola Marymount University. Max’s insane weekend ends with 8 goals, 2 assists and 2 steals adding to his already impressive season tally that is quickly racking up to be one of Stanford’s premier players, his season totals now sit at 14 goals, 5 assists, 2 steals and 1 drawn exclusion through the first five games of the season.

With Max’s dominant display against UC San Diego, he will be riding high as the Cardinal will in Los Angeles from September 19th to the 21st competing at the MPSF Invitational, games will be livestreamed on overnght.com with the schedule coming out this coming Wednesday, September 17th, following the invitational, Stanford will visit San Jose State University for a single game on Friday, September 26th, after they will begin a series of home games at Stanford at their famed pool, Avery Stadium, starting with a single game on September 28th against Malibu-based, Pepperdine University which will be available on overnght.com, which will follow up with Stanford competing in their first conference games in the MPSF conference when they host #2-ranked USC on October 4th and reigning national champions and #1-ranked UCLA on October 5th, both games will be available to view on overnght.com.

Way to go boys, you make us proud every day!