Bucknell University Athletics
Pairings for Men's Water Polo Southern Championships Announced
10/23/2005 8:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 23, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. - With the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) regular season complete, the pairings for the annual Southern Championships have been announced. The Bucknell men's water polo team, which earned the third seed in the Eastern Region, is the fifth overall seed. The Bison will take on fourth-seeded Washington & Jefferson in their first game of the three-day event that runs Oct. 28-30 in Annapolis, Md., and is hosted by Navy, the top overall seed.
After opening up with a 7 p.m. game on Friday, Oct. 28, against the Presidents, Bucknell will face division rival Salem International Saturday morning at 9 a.m. The Bison will play two more games during the weekend based on where they finish in the three-team division comprised of Washington & Jefferson, Salem International and Bucknell.
Eleven total teams will compete at the Southern Championships. The squads are divided into three three-team division and one two-team division based on their regular season record. Teams from the Eastern Region earned all the odd-numbered seeds because Princeton won the title last year. Western Region teams were awarded even-numbered seeds. Following round-robin play within the divisions, a playoff will be conducted with the top four teams advancing to the Eastern Championships, which will be held at Harvard Nov. 12-13. The winner of Easterns earns an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship, which Bucknell's Kinney Natatorium is serving as the host pool for in December.
The Bison finished fourth at last year's Southern Championships. It was their fifth consecutive year of advancing to the consolation game. They last won a conference championship in 1985, the same year they last advanced to the NCAA Championship.
Bucknell completed this year's regular season with a 10-15 overall record and were 6-4 in CWPA Southern Division Eastern Region play. The Bison did face a daunting schedule as they faced 14 teams ranked in the top 20 and posted just a 2-12 record in those contests, with the wins coming against Princeton and Johns Hopkins, two teams they could face in the Southern Championships.
