FRESNO, Calif. – The FPU men's water polo team (2-17, 0-6 WWPA) returned home for a matchup against George Washington (16-2, 6-1 MAWPC) on Thursday night, falling 23-11 in a hard-fought matchup.
 
The Sunbirds got on the board first in a fast-paced first period thanks to Jacob Renevier just over 30 seconds into the contest.
 
George Washington scored the equalizer soon after before Thilo Popp put one in the net to give FPU the lead again, all within the first minute of action.
 
The Colonials went on a 3-0 run to go up two goals before Popp added his second goal of the game to cut into the lead.
 
After another George Washington goal, Forrest Gray was able to put one in the cage to make it 5-4, but a Colonial goal with 2:36 left in the period sent the game into the second quarter at 6-4.
 
Samuel Ramos opened the second period with a goal for the Sunbirds to cut the deficit to one before George Washington went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to six.
 
Renevier was able to add his second and third goals of the game to get the Sunbirds within three, but two goals from the Colonials sent the game into halftime with a 13-7 lead.
 
After a quick George Washington goal to open the second half, the Sunbirds got back-to-back goals from Will Green to make it 14-9 just 1:40 into the third period.
 
The Colonials got both goals back before Pietro Cattano added his name to the scorecard with 1:26 left in the period to make it 16-10.
 
George Washington took over in the final eight minutes, outscoring the Sunbirds 7-1, with the final goal coming from William Hoyle, but the Colonials held on for the win.
 
The Sunbirds will be back in action over the weekend when they compete in the Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament in Santa Clara on Saturday and Sunday. They'll face off against Princeton and Harvard on Saturday at 8 a.m. and 2:40 p.m., with their matchup on Sunday coming against Bucknell on 10:40 a.m.
 
SUNBIRD SOCIAL

• Twitter - @fpusunbirds
• Instagram - @fpusunbirds
• Facebook - /FPUsunbirds