Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
#12 St. Francis (N.Y.)
Bucknell Men's Water Polo Upended by No. 12 St. Francis (N.Y.), 17-9
9/20/2008 8:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 20, 2008
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Bucknell men's water polo team had its two-game winning streak snapped Saturday evening with a 17-9 loss to No. 12 St. Francis in the semifinals of the ECAC Championship. The Terriers, who are the top seed in the eight-team field, will advance to play Johns Hopkins in Sunday's championship game, while the Bison will aim for their third top-three finish at the ECAC Championship in the last five years when they face George Washington at noon.
Fourth-seeded Bucknell (6-5) trailed 8-3 at the half and could draw no closer as it lost to St. Francis for the 17th consecutive time. Gabriel Heiber (Caracas, Venezuela/Miami Beach (Fla.)) led the Bison with three goals as Richie Hyden (Melbourne, Australia/Greenwich (Conn.)) failed to score a goal for just the second time this season. He did contribute a pair of assists.
Johnny Stupp (St. Louis, Mo./Mary Institute) tied Heiber for the team lead with three points as he tallied two goals and an assist. He now has 30 points this season, eclipsing the 27 he had in his first two years as a Bison.
The contest was a physical one with Bucknell drawing a season-high 15 ejections. Hyden, Bucknell's leading scorer with 52 points this season, was whistled for a brutality foul in the third quarter and was forced to sit out the rest of the game. He will also miss Sunday's third-place matchup with George Washington, a team, the Bison narrowly lost to by a 10-8 margin at last week's Princeton Invitational.
After Miles Gilhuly (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) played the entire game in an 11-9 win over No. 18 Brown earlier in the day, Nick Donahue (Brooklyn, N.Y./Lawrenceville) was in the cage the entire 32 minutes against St. Francis. He stopped five shots and dished out one assist.
Bucknell and George Washington will battle for third place on Sunday at noon. It will be the second of at least four meetings in 2008 for the two CWPA Southern Division foes.
BUCKNELL 1 2 3 3 -9
ST. FRANCIS (N.Y.) 4 4 5 4 -17
Goals: Heiber (3), Stupp (2), Nelson, Coghlan, Ang, Reamey.
Assists: Hyden (2), Nelson, Kalter, Ang, Stupp, Donahue.
Ejections Drawn: Heiber (5), Coghlan (4), Nelson (3), Hyden (2), Lovell.
Saves: Donahue (5 svs., 17 ga., 32:00 min.).
Steals: Stupp (2), Coghlan, Barnett.
Sprints: Stupp (0-2), Hyden (0-2).
Record: 6-5
