Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Opens 2008 Season in Colorado this Weekend
2/6/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
Feb. 6, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell women's water polo team will usher in a new era when it opens the 2008 season at the Hilton Hotels Invitational at Colorado State this weekend. The Bison will be without a six-person senior class that graduated last spring, as well as longtime head coach John Zeigler, who resigned in the offseason to pursue other interests.
In place of the exciting senior class that piled up 77 victories over the last four years are six newcomers to the young 14-person roster that contains just five juniors and seniors.
Former associate head coach John Abdou will serve as the interim head coach this spring, replacing Zeigler, who piled up 139 victories in his eight years at the helm of the Bison. Abdou is just the third person to serve as head coach in program history, following Lynn Kachmarik and Zeigler.
Dealing with the transition to a new coach and a number of new faces will be a challenge for a Bucknell squad that sports a 61-37 record over the last three years. However, Abdou believes the team will be successful.
"This is a program that deals with transition really well," commented Abdou. "If you go back three years, we had a large senior class graduate and we won a school-record 23 games, finished top-four at Easterns and had a record-breaking year the next season. That was my first year coaching in the program and I hope we can have that kind of success this year.
"Even though we lost a lot of seniors who played big roles, we have a lot of people who are ready to fill them immediately. I am excited because I think this team is hungry and these girls have something to prove."
Veteran offensive threats Meagan Gins, Aubrey Rowe and Valentina Rozas will help the Bison through the transition. Each is expected to continue to pile up record-setting goal and point totals.
"This is the first time we will have all three of them at the height of their games," said Abdou about Bucknell's three leading returning scorers who combined for 140 goals and 212 points last year. "Our offense will be a strong point. Teams will have to pay attention to the scouting report when they play us since everyone is an offensive threat, not just those three (Gins, Rowe and Rozas)."
Gins, who is the team captain, is sure to break Meg Blitzer's program records for both goals and points early in the campaign. She has been the team's leading scorer each of the last two years and there is no reason to think she will slow down in her senior season.
Gins piled up team highs with 62 goals and 85 points last spring and finished third on the team with 23 assists. Additionally, she drew a career-high 96 ejections to give her 207 in her three-year career. That figure tops the Bison all-time list and is nearly double Jessica Trimis' second-place total of 110.
Rowe's numbers following her sophomore season are very comparable to Gins' at the same stage. She has 87 career goals and 49 career assists. Despite battling nagging injuries most of last year she still led the team with 28 assists, just one shy of joining the program's top-10 list for a single season.
Rowe tallied 58 goals as a freshman, but among the most impressive numbers from her first two years was her team-best 51 steals last spring. That figure was 12 more than anyone else on the team and was the 10th-most in program history.
Like Gins in 2005, and Rowe in 2006, Rozas made an immediate impact as a freshman in 2007. She finished third on the team in scoring with 70 points on 49 goals and 21 assists. A first-team all-conference selection, Rozas was second to Gins with 64 ejections drawn, the second-highest single-season total in program history. She also added 36 steals.
Another veteran who is expected to take on a larger role this year is senior Jennifer Swoyer. A player who has seen her production increase every year, Swoyer registered career highs in goals (19), assists (18) and points (37) in 2007. She came on particularly strong near the end of the season, netting 11 goals and accumulating 12 of her 29 steals over the final 10 games of the season.
"I think Jennifer is ready to have a great senior year," predicted Abdou about the Erie, Pa., native. "She is the end result of being in the program for four years. If she can keep the focus on being offensively aggressive she is unstoppable."
Sophomore Shana Palencia had a solid rookie campaign and should continue her improvement as she moves into a more prominent role. A starter in 16 of the team's 32 games, Palencia tallied 18 goals and 18 assists while also leading the team by winning 22 sprints in 43 chances. She was also third on the team with 38 steals.
"Shana's offensive game and shot have improved dramatically over the last year," explained Abdou. "Sometimes you won't see huge statistics from her because she is a very strong on-the-ball defender for us. She's a huge part of what we are going to do this year, especially on the defensive side."
While many of the returning players have put up amazing offensive numbers, Abdou does want the Bison to focus on defense as well, and that is something goalkeepers Rachel McGillis and Alison Carter will do. That duo will be vying for the starting position vacated by four-year starter Mandy Bynum, who graduated with the program record for saves (963).
McGillis is a junior who appeared in and started just one game last year, but made nine saves and yielded just three goals. In limited action, she has a career save percentage of .821 with 23 saves in 28 chances.
Carter is a sophomore who saw time in nine games as a freshman and made three starts. She registered 40 saves and a solid save percentage of .513.
"I think both goalies are very talented," explained Abdou. "They both have unique strengths and we have to figure out how best to utilize those strengths. The good part is we have two very good goalkeepers and that is something we like to have. I am excited to have the luxury of playing whoever is ready to step up at the rights times for us."
The returning Bison players are an accomplished group who have put up breathtaking numbers and earned plenty of accolades, but in order for the 2008 Bucknell squad to be successful, the freshman class will have to make an immediate impact, given the large percentage of the roster that is rookies.
"It is a very good and very deep freshman class," commented Abdou. "The experience each player gained in high school will help them jump into our system right away."
Among the newcomers Abdou expects to have the biggest impact are Whitney Allen, Kandis Canonica and Haley Prickett. Prickett played high school water polo at perennial power Corona del Mar, while Allen and Canonica both played with the Stanford Water Polo Club, which is traditionally one of the best in the country.
Heading into his first season as the interim head coach, Abdou has laid out a few goals for the Bison heading into 2008. He wants the team to strive for 20 victories, a top-six showing at Easterns, an ECAC Championship title and to finish among the top teams at Southerns.
"It won't be easy this year," predicted Abdou. "This might be one of the best teams we have had, but our league has gotten a lot better, so it will be challenging."
Colorado State Hilton Hotels Schedule (all times Eastern)
Saturday, Feb. 9
Bucknell (0-0) vs. Marist (0-0), 11:30 a.m.
Bucknell (0-0) vs. UC Santa Cruz (0-0), 3:45 p.m.
Bucknell (0-0) at Colorado State (0-5), 7:45 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 10
Bucknell vs. TBA, 9:30 a.m. or 11 a.m.
Bucknell vs. TBA, 1:45 p.m. or 3:15 p.m.
