CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Led by a hat trick from Botond Szalma, St. Francis College topped Bucknell University, 13-7, in the finals of the 2004 ECAC Men's Water Polo Championship.

The two teams played evenly through the first quarter, ending the first seven minutes of play knotted at 2-2.  St. Francis controlled both the second and third periods, scoring five times in each to take a commanding 12-4 lead at the end of three periods and cruise to victory.

Stephan Mudreac, Milos Vuksic, Carlos Omana, and Andrija Vrdoljak each tallied two goals in the game for the Terriers.  Goalie Sasha Stankovic made a total of five saves.

Six different Bison found their way into the scoring column, with Jay Danforth's two goals heading the attack.  Trevor Mullins went the distance in goal and made five saves.

ST. FRANCIS    2   5   5   1   -- 13 
BUCKNELL        2   1   1   3   -- 7

Results

 

Bracket A Bracket B Bracket C 1st Seed:  U.S. Naval Academy 2nd Seed:  Princeton University 3rd Seed:  St. Francis College 4th Seed:  Queens College 5th Seed:  Iona College 6th Seed:  MIT 7th Seed:  Bucknell University >8th Seed:  George Washington Univ. 9th Seed:  Johns Hopkins University 10th Seed:  Harvard University Friday, September 24, 2004 Game # Score 8:00 Harvard University vs U.S. Naval Academy 1 10-11 9:15 Queens College vs Bucknell University 2 3-21   Saturday, September 25, 2004 9:00 Princeton University vs George Washington Univ. 3 14-6 10:15 St. Francis College vs Johns Hopkins University 4 18-9 11:30 Harvard University vs Queens College 5 11-4 12:45 U.S. Naval Academy vs Bucknell University 6 6-8 2:00 Iona College vs George Washington Univ. 7 8-9 3:15 MIT vs Johns Hopkins University 8 7-8 4:30 U.S. Naval Academy vs Queens College 9 25-3 5:45 Harvard University vs Bucknell University 10 5-6 7:00 Princeton University vs Iona College 11 13-4 8:15 St. Francis College vs MIT 12 16-5   Sunday, September 26, 2004 9:00 Princeton University vs St. Francis College 13 6-10 10:15 George Washington Univ. vs Johns Hopkins University 14 9-10 11:30 Iona College vs MIT 15 5-8 12:45 Bucknell University vs St. Francis College 1st 7-13 2:00 U.S. Naval Academy vs Johns Hopkins University 4th 13-10 3:15 Harvard University vs MIT 7th 6-8 Loser of Game 13 is automatically third; Loser of Game 14 is automatically sixth; Loser of Game 15 is automatically ninth; 4th in Bracket A is automatically tenth. ECAC Championship Results 1st Place St. Francis College 2nd Place Bucknell University 3rd Place Princeton University 4th Place U.S. Naval Academy 5th Place Johns Hopkins University 6th Place George Washington University 7th Place MIT 8th Place Harvard University 9th Place Iona College 10th Place Queens College All-Tournament Team First Team Gergely Fabian, St. Francis College Rick Offsay, Harvard University Brad Roslyn, Bucknell University Alex Radcliffe, U.S. Naval Academy John Stover, Princeton University Botond Szalma, St. Francis College Aleksander Stankovich, St. Francis Coll. Goaltender Second Team Mike Gerrity, Harvard University Reid Joseph, Princeton University Dave Lohrey, MIT Kamil Kulczycki, Iona College Brian Mead, Johns Hopkins University Aaron Platshon, Bucknell University Peter Sabbatini, Princeton University Goaltender Most Valuable Player Gergely Fabian, St. Francis College