#20 Air Force Splits Games In Day Two at Bucknell Invite

20th-ranked Air Force men's water polo (7-6) split a pair of games Sunday at the Bucknell Invite in Lewisburg, Pa. The Falcons won their opener over Long Island, 17-8, and fell to host Bucknell 13-8 in the second game.

In the opening game, the Falcons jumped ahead 3-1 after the first quarter. The teams traded four goals each in the second to into the half with Air Force leading 7-5. The Falcons turned it on in the second half, scoring five goals in both the third and fourth quarters to pull away.

The freshmen duo of Tom Leggett and Jack Richards combined for seven goals and 10 points. Leggett scored four, with an assist and Richard tallied a hat-trick with three goals to go with two assists. Senior Sam De La Cruz also had a hat-trick with three goals. Junior Kaito Ham and sophomore Colin Chase added two goals each. Senior Ian Christie added three assists.

Junior Liam Markus had two saves in the win in goal.

"We were slow this morning and did not start well," head coach Ryan Brown said. "However, we were able to finally get rolling and played better as the game went on against Long Island."

Against Bucknell, the Falcons got behind big early. Bucknell out-scored the Falcons 6-1 in the opening quarter and led 10-3 at the half. The Falcons regrouped and out-scored the Bison 5-3 in the second half, but the early deficit was too big an obstacle to overcome.

Richards led the Falcons with another hat-trick with three goals. Sophomore Jake Dixon added two goals.

"We got off to a bad start against Bucknell, getting just physically outmatched," Brown said. "They played such a physical game. At the end of the first we had a 6 on 5. I told the team we need a goal, then a stop just to get out of the quarter. Then we talked about how we just needed to win quarter. So we won the second half and just tried to keep moving so they could not grab us. But we cannot give up that many goals early and fall that far behind."

Air Force returns to action next weekend at the Titan Invitational hosted by Cal State Fullerton.

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