LEWISBURG, Pa. — The Bucknell University men’s water polo team has been among the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference’s elite since the league was formed in 2016. And the two-time defending MAWPC East Division regular-season champions and 2016 MAWPC Tournament title winners are poised to continue their success this season.
“The season is always a building process,” said head coach John McBride, who has led the Bison to a 19-1 MAWPC record. “Each game is an opportunity to improve so we’re ready for the MAWPC Championships. Our expectation is to win our conference and make it to the NCAA Championships.”
For Bucknell to accomplish its goals, Rade Joksimovic will have to be at his best. A two-time All-America and MAWPC East Division Most Valuable Player (MVP), he became the third Bison to reach the 100-goal plateau in more than one season a year ago. He enters his junior campaign with 325 career points (260g-65a), which places him 25 outside of 10th in school history; his goal total is already good for fourth, and he’s on pace to join Scott Schulte (586), Jeff Hilk (334) and Garrin Kapecki (316) as the only Bison to reach the 300-goal threshold.
“Rade’s consistent,” McBride said. “He’s a good leader and has proven he can score goals. But he can’t be our sole focus. Other guys also need to score goals so we’re going to ask Rade to distribute the ball more. As long as he does better than he did last year and the year before, we’ll have a shot to reach our goals.”
Joksimovic is far from the only scoring threat on the 2018 roster. The Bison return their top three point producers from a year ago in Joksimovic (106g-35a), Marko Djordjevic (50g-45a) and Cooper Dolan (36g-19a). Djordjevic, a senior, has been a starter since his freshman year and currently boasts 185 career points (107g-78a).
“Marko is a solid player,” McBride said. “He scores big goals, and he’s great on defense. He’s an emotional leader on the team. He’s a big presence in the pool, and he’s going to play a lot of minutes this year.”
Dolan enjoyed a breakout sophomore year in 2017, capturing All-MAWPC Second Team and All-MAWPC Championship Second Team accolades. While his primary role is to mark opposing teams’ centers, McBride expects him to increase his offensive production this season.
“Cooper is our anchor in the middle,” McBride said. “He’s the one who controls the centers for us. He’s got a great shot because he’s worked really hard on it. We expect a lot of production out of him.”
Beyond Joksimovic, Djordjevic and Dolan, McBride believes Matt Blackwell, Cullen Jacuzzi and Logan Schofield will step up. Schofield will be taking the place of Jeff Hagen, a center who graduated ranked second among Bison in career ejections drawn (226), while Blackwell and Jacuzzi will be called on to bolster the attack.
One of Bucknell’s biggest losses to graduation was goalkeeper Charlie Niehaus, who started all but one game since his sophomore year and left Lewisburg ranked second in career saves (837). And, for the first time in McBride’s seven-year tenure as head coach, a freshman is projected to start in net: Jack Otto, a Libertyville (Ill.) High School product.
“Our expectation for Jack is that he improves every day,” McBride said. “He’s going to have a great defense in front of him, and that’s going to help him gain confidence playing at the Division I level. He’s going to have growing pains, as all freshman goalies do at this level, but we’re excited to have him. He has a great attitude, he’s very coachable and he wants to win. You can do a lot with that.”
McBride said that, even though they need to break in a new goalkeeper, the Bison should remain as strong defensively as always.
“Our defense is strong,” McBride said. “We spend a lot of time working on our defense. We’re going to have to figure out our goalie’s strengths and weaknesses in the cage and adjust our defense to what he’s good at. If he’s good in a press, we’ll press more. If he’s good in a zone, we’ll zone more. We’ll evaluate that during practices and our games early in the season and adjust accordingly as the season goes on.”
Release courtesy Bucknell University Athletics Communications
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