ANNAPOLIS, Md. â€" The Navy water polo team dropped its second Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference game in as many nights as the Mids (5-5, 0-2 MAWPC) fell to the Bison of Bucknell (7-1, 1-0 MAWPC), 20-11 on Saturday night at Scott Natatorium on the grounds of the United States Naval Academy. Two lengthy goal runs by the visiting Bison in the middle two quarters of play spelled defeat for the Midshipmen at home.

Seniors David Huber (Fort Washington, Pa.) and Taylor Peterson (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) led Navy's effort versus Bucknell as each recorded three-goal hat tricks.

The play on Saturday night began with the Mids taking a quick 2-0 lead over the first 2:48 with goals by J.B. Lee (Jr., Newport Coast, Calif.) and Nik Galvan (Fr., Henderson, Nev.). Lee took a pass from the left wing by Brendan Metcalf (Sr., Frisco, Texas) before unleashing his shot from inside five meters, while Galvan moved up the right side of the pool and netted his unassisted goal. Two scores by Bucknell on the next two possessions after Galvan's goal quickly tied the match up at 2-2. The back-and-forth action continued in the second half of the first quarter as Huber scored consecutive goals at 2:45 and 1:56 before Bucknell closed out the first stanza with two goals in the final 48 seconds.

With the score tied at 4-4 through eight minutes of play, the Mids shot back into the lead at 5-4, 51 seconds into the second quarter with Huber taking a Peterson pass from the right wing and ripping a shot past the Bison's goalie Charlie Niehaus. Unfortunately for Navy, this would be the host's final lead of game as Bucknell responded with an emphatic 6-0 run from 6:44 through 0:48 to go ahead 10-5. In the final 20 seconds of the quarter both teams scored as Lee netted a power play goal off a Shepherd Warren (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) pass.

Down 11-6 coming out of the halftime intermission, Navy's team captain Taylor Peterson led the squad through his play in the pool as he scored back-to-back goals in the opening 78 seconds of action. Nate Reiff (Fr., Wheeling, Ill.) and Metcalf assisted on Peterson's tallies that helped the Mids cut their deficit to just three goals. Similar to the second period a long cold streak on offense and sharp outside shooting by the Bison re-opened the lead to a significant margin. Bucknell netted seven unanswered goals from 6:29 to 1:00 to go up 18-8 going into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Navy outscored Bucknell by a three to two count to make the final score, 20-11. Peterson completed his hat trick at 5:45 before Galvan found the back of the net for the second time of the game at 3:21 off of a long pass by goalie Brandon Shields (Fr., Lake Forest, Calif.) and breaking away with a sprint. A power play tally by Reiff closed out the scoring.

"No one is happy with tonight's result," remarked Navy head coach Mladen Stanicic. "We had runs of play where we really put together quality possessions on both offense and defense, but we just didn't have enough of that tonight. If we were able to play at that level and with that mindset all game the score and possibly the result would've been much different. You have to give credit to Bucknell as they featured some exceptional outside shooting tonight.

"We have two more games tomorrow so we'll have to turn our attention to Wagner and Fordham quickly because league games are always important, especially when they're played at home."

Navy will be back in action Sunday with a pair of home MAWPC games at Scott Natatorium. The Mids will face off with the Seahawks of Wagner at 9 a.m. before taking on the Rams of Fordham at 2 p.m. Of note, the Navy-Fordham contest will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.