EMMITSBURG, Md. (November 1, 2025) – Mount St. Mary's men's water polo split their final day of home games with a 18-15 loss to Bucknell and 20-11 win over Mercyhurst. With the split, the Mountaineers move to 10-19, logging their second double-digit win season in program history and their first since 2022.
 
The Mountaineers found themselves down 9-7 at the halftime break, with three goals from Alexandros Belesis, two goals from William Matthews, and solo goals from Aaron Tarr and Nate Valentine, rounding out the scoring in the first half for the Mount.
 
Tough play between the Mountaineers and the Bison continued in the second half, with the two teams battling out a 9-8 half win, in favor of Bucknell. Belesis continued his first half play, adding four more goals to his game tally of seven. Tarr also logged two second half scores followed by solo efforts in the second half by Valentine and Williams. Sherif Hosni logged 10 saves in the cage during game one of the day.
 
 
Bucknell 18, Mount St. Mary's 15

Team                          1    2    3    4     F 
Mount St. Mary's              3    4    4    4     15
Bucknell                      5    4    5    4     18
 
Goals: Belesis 7, Tarr 4, Matthews 3, Valavanis 1, Valentine 1
 
Saves: Hosni 10
 
 
The Mountaineers came out firing in game two of the day against Mercyhurst, with Aidan Zieger scoring on the Mount's first possession of the game. Belesis capitalized on a quick turnover, recording another score for the Mountaineers. A flurry of goals from Chrysostomos Valavanis, Ayden Hess, Gunner Lanquist, and Belesis again put the Mountaineers in the driver seat, heading into the first intermission up 6-4.
 
Belesis got the scoring started again during the first Mount possession of the second quarter before Matthews found the net for the first time against Mercyhurst. Tarr and Valentine found net in succession before Ivan Morales scored, caping off a 5-0 shutout second quarter for the Mountaineers.
 
Valentine found the net to start the third followed by a goal from Wes Reising on Senior Day rounding out a 2-1 quarter win. Lanquist scored to start the fourth, stretching the Mount goal tally to 14. A timeout for the Mountaineers was called with little more than three and a half minutes left in the quarter, as Hosni changed caps with Morales, allowing the junior field player from Illinois to play in goal and the senior goaltender to play in the field. More goals by both the Mountaineers and the Lakers were scored through the remaining minutes, but the crescendo of the game came in a selfless act by Hosni, passing the ball when he was one-on-one with the Mercyhurst goalkeeper to Andrew Norris, who palmed the ball into the net for the score.
 
Belesis tallied five goals against the lakers while providing seven assists to teammates and completing five steals. Lanquist tallied a hat trick on Senior Day while Tarr also recorded a triple as well. Every single senior in the pool besides Hosni recorded a goal against Mercyhurst. Along with his field assist, Hosni recorded eight saves and goal and Morales recorded two saves in his short appearance in the cage.
 
Mount St. Mary's 20, Mercyhurst 11  

Team                          1    2    3    4     F 
Mount St. Mary's              6    5    2    7     15
Mercyhurst                    4    0    1    6     18
 
Goals: Belesis 5, Lanquist 3, Tarr 3, Valentine 2, Valavanis 1, Morales 1, Reising 1, Norris 1, Zieger 1, Hess 1, Matthews 1
 
Saves: Hosni 8, Morales 2
 
 
UP NEXT
 
The Mountaineers travel to New York City for their final weekend of conference play next weekend, taking on Wagner and Fordham on November 8.