Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Heads to Southern Championships this Weekend
4/19/2006 8:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
April 19, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell women's water polo team enters the postseason this weekend as it travels to Princeton, N.J., for the Southern Championships. The Bison, seeded second in the four-team field, will take on third-seeded Maryland in their first game Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Host and top-seeded Princeton, which is ranked 20th in the country, opens the tournament against fourth-seeded George Washington at 10 a.m. The two winners will play for the championship at 8:30 p.m. Saturday. The two losers will meet in the consolation game at 7 p.m.
Bucknell finished second in the regular-season standings with a 4-2 record. The Bison have dominated the Terrapins and Colonials, going 4-0 against Maryland and 3-0 opposite George Washington, this season. Princeton has defeated Bucknell in all three meetings this year, although the goal differential in those three games was just five as two were decided by only one goal.
At last year's Southern Championships, which were held at Kinney Natatorium, Bucknell took second overall, losing to Princeton 8-3 in the championship game. That showing was the best in the history of the program.
Bucknell enters the postseason with a 21-6 record and is just two wins shy of equaling the program record of 23 which was established last year. All six of the losses on the season for the Bison have come to ranked foes.
Meagan Gins (Albuquerque, N.M./Valley), Aubrey Rowe (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and Elizabeth Jensen (San Mateo, Calif./St. Ignatius Prep) have led the Bucknell offense this season. Each has scored more than 70 points, marking just the third time in program history, and the first time since 2001, three players have reached the 70-point plateau.
Gins leads the team with 62 goals and 88 points. She is just four goals shy of tying the program record and only five points short of the single-season points record. Additionally, Gins is 10th on the career points list with 149 and seventh on the career goals list with 110 after just two years in Orange and Blue.
Jensen, a junior, has dished out a career-high 38 assists this season to go along with a career-high 37 goals for 75 points, which is tied for 11th on Bucknell's single-season list. Her 38 helpers rank fourth on the Bison single-season list, while Jensen is third on the career assist list, just two behind second-place Cody Keffer.
Rowe began the season on fire as she tallied a team-high 38 goals and 52 points through the campaign's first 13 games. She has since increased those totals to 52 and 72, respectively, but has been slowed due to injuries. Rowe ranks 10th on the Bison single-season goals list.
Mandy Bynum (San Jose, Calif./Leland) has started 25 games in goal and has been outstanding, especially as of late, for Bucknell. She has 191 saves and owns a .554 save percentage. Bynum has saved at least 10 shots on 10 occasions this year, including eight times in the last 11 games. She recently eclipsed 700 career saves and is within reach of Lindsay Chesterfield's program record of 892 since she is just a junior.
The top two teams in the Southern Division, as well as the Northern and Western Divisions, earn automatic berths into the Eastern Championship, which will be held April 29-30 in Providence, R.I. Additionally, two at-large teams will be selected. It is expected the Bison, who have participated in four consecutive Eastern Championships, will qualify.
