Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Water Polo European Tour Update #7
7/5/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
July 5, 2007
Entry by Todd Newcomb, Bucknell Associate AD
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JULY 3
After experiencing some success on the winning side of the ledger in Slovakia, the Bison were quickly reminded of just how good the Hungarians are after a pair of setbacks in scrimmages with the Eger U-18 Club Team today. Although we have been very competitive against the Eger club, we have yet to get over the hump and steal away a victory.
In the morning scrimmage, despite two quick goals from Lee Anderson to get the Orange and Blue off and running, the Eger Club outscored the Bison 4-2 in the second quarter and Bucknell was never able to recover. Three times Bucknell moved within one, but Eger held on for a 10-8 victory.
Anderson's two goals paced the offense, while Sean Robinson, Jason Rechel, Kyle Roslyn, Mark Masterson, Josh Sunday and Alex Lovell all tallied one goal apiece. Nick Donahue and Luke Belenky split time in goal (as they have done on the entire trip), and made eight and six saves, respectively.
In the second game of the day, Alex Lampley's second goal of the game tied the score at 3-3 early in the second period, but Eger scored five unanswered goals to forge a seemingly insurmountable lead at 8-3. But the Orange and Blue never gave up and battled back with three unanswered goals of their own to close within two at 8-6. Trailing 10-7 to start the final period, two consecutive goals by Lampley closed the margin to 10-9.
But for the second time in the contest, the Eger club put together another 5-0 run to put the game out of reach. The final score was Eger 15, Bucknell 12. Lampley played another terrific game in the post, scoring five goals to lead the Bison attack. Randy Ang had a pair of goals, while Jason Rechel, Alex Lovell, Johnny Stupp, Josh Sunday and Lee Anderson each scored once. Luke Belenky made a pair of saves in goal.
JULY 4
Happy birthday America! We celebrated the 4th of July in a very appropriate way today - we traveled back to Slovakia and toured the US Steel plant in Kosice. We left the hotel at 8:45 a.m. and after some difficulties with the directions finally arrived at the plant around noon. A big thank you from the entire travel party to Mr. Stupp for helping to arrange what turned out to be a really fun and enjoyable day! Mr. Stupp's company does a lot of work with US Steel, and he was the person behind the scenes of today's tour.
The plant we toured is the second largest US Steel plant, employing roughly 16,000 people - 25-30 of which are Americans. Upon our arrival we were escorted into the cafeteria where we were treated to lunch by the company. David Lohr, the president of US Steel Kosice, joined us for the meal along with two of his colleagues. They gave us some brief history of the facility, which was taken over by US Steel in November of 2000. The facility was constructed in 1959 and originally run by East Slovakian Steelworks. The facility produces nearly 5.0 million tons of steel per year.
Following our meal, we met our tour guides and were shown a brief informative video about the plant. Each of us were also provided with a small goodie bag that contained a US Steel baseball cap and some brochures describing the company. Then we were placed on a bus and transported to a different building on the grounds to be properly dressed for the tour.
We were each given the following to wear: steel-toed boots (complete with a pair of US Steel socks), blue pants, a red jacket, a red hard hat, protective goggles, a hair net and a pair of ear plugs. We certainly made for an interesting looking group once we had our gear on. We loaded back onto the bus and began our drive into the middle of the US Steel plant. Equipped with a set of audio earplugs so we could hear our guide, we were able to get off the bus at two different stations to view some of the steel making in process. There's no doubt that we lost a few pounds during the tour too - it was extremely hot as we approached the freshly made steel and the clothing we were wearing only added to the discomfort.
US Steel is one of the largest producers of flat rolled products in Central Europe, and we were able to see much of the process today. The line we saw runs non-stop except to shut-down for one shift each Thursday for preventative maintenance. It is fully computerized so that the steel is made to the exact specifications the customer requests.
After about two hours of touring we returned to our bus near the main gate, thanked our guides and began our journey back to Hungary and Eger. Upon our arrival at the Hotel Aqua, the athletes had 15 minutes to run to their rooms and get their gear for a 6:30 practice in the outdoor pool. It poured for most of the practice, but the focus of tonight's session was more to have fun and get some time in the pool rather than a real workout (the team's first off day in quite a while).
