Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Water Polo Heads to West Coast this Weekend
10/11/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 11, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - After facing eight ranked teams in its last 10 games, the Bucknell men's water polo team will continue its challenging schedule this weekend when it heads to California for its yearly Fall Break trip to the West Coast. The Bison, who are ranked 15th nationally, will play at the SoCal Tournament, which features 14 of the country's top 16 teams, including nine of the top 10.
Bucknell (11-5, 3-2 CWPA) will play two games Saturday and two more Sunday. The Bison will open against No. 5 Pepperdine Saturday afternoon and then play either No. 4 UCLA or No. 14 Pacific in Saturday's nightcap. Both of those contests will be played at Corona del Mar High School. Sunday's contests will take place either at UC Irvine or Corona del Mar High School depending on Saturday's results.
Bucknell will wrap up its West Coast trip by playing first-year program Concordia on Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Bucknell Men's Water Polo Notebook
Bucknell Recently (11-5, 3-2 CWPA)
- Oct. 6: W, 10-3 vs. Queens
- Oct. 6: L, 5-4 at No. 18 Princeton
- Oct. 7: L, 10-5 vs. No. 13 Navy
- Oct. 7: L, 12-9 vs. No. 11 St. Francis (N.Y.)
- 2007 Bucknell Men's Water Polo Statistics
- SoCal\ Tournament\ Schedule
Bucknell Notes
- As has been the case in recent years, Bucknell is once again playing a very difficult schedule this season. With two more ranked teams on its schedule for Saturday, the Bison are in the midst of a stretch of playing 10 ranked foes in a 12-game stretch. Overall, Bucknell has already faced 10 ranked opponents this season and owns a 5-5 record against them. The Bison played just 14 ranked foes all of last year and went 3-11 in those contests.
- Bucknell is in the midst of a three-game losing streak for the first time this season. The Bison have not lost more than three consecutive games since September 2005 when they dropped five in a row.
- With 11 victories this season, Bucknell head coach John Zeigler has now won 125 in his nine years at the helm of the Bison. He ranks second on the Bison all-time list, 98 victories behind Hall of Famer Dick Russell.
- Bucknell last played in the SoCal Tournament at UC Irvine in 2005 and went 0-4, facing three top-20 teams, including a pair ranked in the top 10. Among the losses was one to No. 1 UCLA.
- Senior co-captain Jason Rechel continues to lead the Bison in scoring with 34 goals and 48 points. He is just 11 goals shy of his career high. After posting six multiple-goal games in the season's first seven contests, Rechel has tallied just one in the last nine games, but that was Sunday against St. Francis. Overall, Rechel's 133 career goals top current Bison, two ahead of classmate Mark Masterson.
- In addition to being neck-and-neck in many offensive categories, Rechel and Masterson are among the team leaders in steals with 22 apiece. Kyle Roslyn paces the squad with 25. Those three veterans are also among the program's all-time leaders in steals. Roslyn ranks sixth with 113, two ahead of his brother, Brad, a member of the team from 2002-05. Masterson has 107 in his career to rank eighth, while Rechel has 104 to stand ninth.
- Freshman Richie Hyden has been strong for Bucknell of late. The left-hander has tallied three assists in three of the last five games and leads the team with 20. Additionally, Hyden has posted seven multiple-goal outings and ranks third on the squad with 20 goals.
- Bucknell has continued its strong second-half play throughout this season. The Bison have outscored opponents 84-50 in the second half. They also hold a 14-goal first-half advantage as well.
Up Next
- Bucknell will come back East to wrap up the regular season following its five games in California. The Bison will play five games in Annapolis, Md., Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Md., Oct. 19-21. Three of those contests will be league matchups as the five teams in the CWPA Southern Division battle for the tops seeds at the Southern Championships, which will be held at Navy the first weekend in November.
