Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Travels to Maryland Invitational this Weekend
2/22/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 22, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - For the third time in four years the Bucknell women's water polo team is off to an attention-grabbing start to the season. In 2005 the Bison opened the campaign a program-record 11-1, while in 2006 they followed with an 8-1 start. This year Bucknell has commenced the season with a 7-2 mark. The Bison will try to improve on that record this weekend at the Maryland Invitational with games against MAAC foes Iona, Villanova and Wagner.
Bucknell will take on Villanova at 11:45 on Saturday and later in the day will face Wagner at 6 p.m. The Bison's lone game on Sunday will be at 8 a.m. against Iona.
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Notebook
Bucknell Recently (7-2, 0-0 CWPA)
Princeton Invitational:
- Feb. 16: W, 14-5 vs. Siena
- Feb. 16: L, 13-8 vs. No. 6 San Diego State
- Feb. 17: L, 11-8 vs. No. 15 Michigan
- Feb. 17: W, 11-10 vs. No. 18 Indiana
Bucknell Notes
- Bucknell is ranked No. 19 nationally this week. It marks the highest ranking in program history. The Bison were ranked No. 20 in 2005, the first time they appeared in the national poll.
- Bucknell's 7-2 start to the season is the third-best in program history. Only the 2005 team that opened 11-1 and the 2006 squad that went 10-2 to start the campaign were better.
- Bucknell's last-second 11-10 victory over No. 18 Indiana at last week's Princeton Invitational was its first over a ranked opponent since the 2006 Eastern Championship. The Bison had lost 14 straight contests to ranked foes.
- Bucknell is averaging 12.2 goals per game this season and already has 110 goals, nearly half of last year's total of 258. The Bison averaged just over eight goals per game last spring.
- On the defensive side of the pool, Bucknell is yielding 8.8 goals per game, a slight improvement over last season's 8.9 goals per game allowed.
- Already this year Bucknell has seven different players who have registered at least 10 goals. All of last year just six players reached the 10-goal plateau.
- While Bucknell knew the veteran trio of Meagan Gins, Aubrey Rowe and Valentina Rozas would provide plenty of offense this year, freshmen Kandis Canonica and Haley Prickett are two of the team's top three scorers. Canonica, a starter in all nine games, is tied for the team lead with 31 points and tops the squad with 16 assists. Prickett, who posted a six-goal game against Siena last weekend, is third on the team with 24 points and ranks second to Rozas with 20 goals on the year. She has come off the bench in all nine of Bucknell's games.
- Rozas is tied with Canonica for the team lead in points with 31. She now has 101 points in her career, reaching that plateau against Indiana when she totaled career highs in goals (6) and points (7). Rozas earned the CWPA Southern Division Player of the Week for the second consecutive week on Tuesday.
- Sophomore Alison Carter has earned eight starts in goal and leads the team with 53 saves and has a .505 save percentage. The Costa Mesa, Calif., native tallied a career-high 11 saves in that win over nationally ranked Indiana. She now has 93 career saves and ranks fourth in Bucknell history in that category.
- Gins enters the Maryland Invitational second in Bison history in both goals and assists. She is just seven goals behind Meg Blitzer's program record of 198 and she is nine points behind Blitzer's program-record 282 points. Gins is likely to soon become the first Bucknell player to net 200 career goals and register 300 career points.
Record Watch
- Meagan Gins: 2nd in career points (273), 2nd in career goals (191), 6th in career assists (82), 1st in ejections drawn (222), 1st in shots (483), 8th in games played (105), 5th in games started (102)
- Shana Palencia: 6th in sprints won (26)
- Aubrey Rowe: 10th in career points (156), t-8th in career assists (57), 7th in career ejections drawn (79), 5th in career sprints won (35), 10th in career games started (60)
- Valentina Rozas: t-5th in ejections drawn (82)
- Jennifer Swoyer: 10th in career ejections drawn (67)
- Alison Carter: 4th in career saves (93)
- Rachel McGillis: 6th in career saves (55)
Bucknell vs. Maryland Invitational Opponents
- Bucknell is 13-6 all-time against Villanova. The Bison have won 11 straight games against the Wildcats.
- Bucknell is 6-0 all-time against Wagner. The Bison downed the Seahawks 11-6 in their only meeting last year, which came at the Bucknell Invitational.
- Bucknell is 2-4 all-time against Iona. The Bison defeated the Gaels 13-6 last year in their first meeting since 2003. Bucknell has won the last two games in the series.
Up Next
- Bucknell will play its first home games next weekend when it hosts the eight-team ECAC Championship at Kinney Natatorium. Each team in the seeded two-day tournament will play a pair of games on Saturday. Sunday each team will play once, with the championship game taking place at 12 p.m. The Bison have finished in the top-three at the ECAC Championship each of the last two years, but thy have never won the trophy.
Maryland Invitational Schedule
Saturday, Feb. 23
Bucknell (7-2) vs. Villanova (0-2), 11:45 a.m.
Bucknell (7-2) vs. Wagner (0-3), 6 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 24
Bucknell (7-2) vs. Iona (0-0), 8 a.m.
