Bucknell University Athletics
Field Set for NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship
11/28/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Nov. 28, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell's Kinney Natatorium will serve as the host venue for this weekend's 2005 National Collegiate Men's Water Polo Championship. The four-team field of USC, Stanford, Loyola Marymount and St. Francis (N.Y.) was announced Sunday night by the NCAA Men's Water Polo Committee.
In the first game Saturday, Dec. 3, USC (24-1) will play St. Francis (20-8). The second contest will pit Stanford (19-6) and Loyola Marymount (18-15). Game times are 3:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time Saturday. The third-place game is slated for 4:30 p.m. Sunday, while the championship tilt, which will be televised live on College Sports Television (CSTV), begins at 6 p.m.
USC earned the top seed in the field by virtue of winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title over Stanford, which earned an at-large selection and is the second seed. Loyola Marymount, which won the Western Water Polo Association championship, is the third seed, while St. Francis won the Collegiate Water Polo Association title and is the fourth seed.
Last year, UCLA defeated Stanford 10-9 to capture the championship.
Since the beginning of the championship in 1969, no team from outside the state of California has ever reached the championship final.
Bucknell is just the fifth non-California school in the 37-year history of the championship to host the tournament, and it is the first time the championship event will take place in Pennsylvania. Other non-California host sites or schools have been New Mexico (1972), Brown (1977), Indianapolis (1989) and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (1997).
