Air Force Men’s Water Polo opened the 2022 season with three games at the Bruno Classic, hosted by Brown University at the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center in Providence, RI The Falcons opened with a 20-5 victory over the Gannon University then fell 15-13 at No. 20 St. Francis Brooklyn, before a 15-4 win over Austin College to cap the day.

In the 20-5 win over Gannon, 10 different Falcons entered the goal column. First-year student Jackson Carter led the team with five goals in his college debut. Senior Grant Snyder scored four goals and rookie Bruce Kim added three. Senior AJ Kuypers registered nine saves in goal.

Against St. Francis, the Falcons were unable to rebound in the 15-13 loss. Trailing by four, the Air Force beat St. Francis 5-3 in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get past the Terriers. Second year Jacob Yi scored four goals to lead the Falcons. Carter and Snyder added two goals each.

In the nightcap against Austin, the Falcons took an 11-3 lead after two quarters of play and took the win. The defense limited Austin to just one goal in the last three quarters, after allowing three goals at first. Snyder led the way on offense, scoring six goals. First-year student Jake Dixon followed by three goals.

“Overall the day was a success,” said the head coach. Ryan Brown said. “The team was ready to play every game with intensity. All of our opponents were well balanced and played well. We had strong contributions from seasoned players as well as our newcomers. They learned under fire on the road. We played well against St. Francis, but couldn’t recover from some small mistakes early on.”

The Falcons weren’t the only program competing at Brown, as the Air Force women’s volleyball team also competed at Providence. The team attended Friday night’s Air Force volleyball game in a 3-2 win over Siena.

“We got to watch the volleyball team play last night and got to see a fiery comeback against Sienna,” Brown said. “They won the tournament by going 3-0 this weekend and we’ll build on that in our remaining matches against tough opponents on Sunday in Wagner, Brown and MIT.”

The Falcons return to action on Sunday, September 4, on day two of action at the Bruno Classic. The Falcons take on Wagner at 10:45 a.m. ET and #19 Brown at 2:30 p.m. ET in Providence. The third game of the day will take place at MIT at 7:30 p.m. ET.