Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Announces Team Awards
5/1/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
May 1, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Eight members of the Bucknell women's water polo team were honored recently with team awards. Aubrey Rowe (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley), Kandis Canonica (Burlingame, Calif./St. Ignatius Prep), Valentina Rozas (Pico Rivera, Calif./El Rancho), Shana Palencia (Glendale, Calif./Hoover), Rachel McGillis (Los Altos, Calif./Los Altos), Kelsey Herrmann (San Mateo, Calif./San Mateo), Meghan McNally (Floral Park, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) and Amanda Skonezney (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) were all showered with awards. Additionally, Palencia and Rozas were named team captains for the 2010 season.
Rowe earned the Allyson Gillespie Award, which is given annually in recognition of "leadership, loyalty and total dedication to Bucknell water polo". This was her second consecutive time winning the award. A 2009 CWPA All-Southern Division Second Team member, Rowe finished her career as one of the most dominant players in school history. She leaves Bucknell ranked on eight career record lists. She is currently first in career points (358) and steals (251), second in goals (222), assists (136), ejections drawn (168) and games started (122) and tied for fifth in games played (128). Additionally she ranks third in shots (506) and fifth in sprints won (50).
This season, Rowe, a three-time all-conference selection, topped the record-setting performance she had in 2008. She ranks first in the season record books in points (128) and goals (75). She is also on the season lists for assists (4th-53), steals (2nd-82), ejections drawn (8th-61) and shots (2nd-165). Additionally, she was the only Bison to start every game this spring. In 2007, Rowe won the team's Vicki Gorman Award and she was 2006's Rookie of the Year for both the Bison as well as the CWPA Southern Division.
Canonica and Rozas were both honored with the Vicki Gorman Award. Each year, this award is given to recognize "contribution to Bucknell water polo at a level in excess of expectations". Canonica, last year's co-Rookie of the Year, continued her success into her sophomore year. This season, she tallied 123 points, second on the single-season list as well as second on the team this year. She also scored 59 goals and was credited with 64 assists, breaking her own school record.
In only her second season, Canonica already ranks eighth on the career points list with 235 and is tied for third on the career assists list with 125. Last week, she was named to the CWPA All-Southern Division Second Team for the second straight year.
Rozas, an All-Southern Division First Team member, was also named a co-captain for the 2010 season. A dominant forward, she scored a career-high 73 goals this season, good for second in the single-season record book, and also tallied 24 assists, accumulating a total of 97 points. That number puts her in the seventh spot in single-season points. Her team-high 180 shots is a new season record, and her 89 ejections drawn puts her tied for second in that category.
She currently ranks fourth on the career goals list, tallying 190 over her three years as well as sixth in total points (255). Additionally, she is second in career ejections drawn (231) and shots (456). She has been an All-Southern Division First Team selection for three consecutive seasons, including Player of the Year last year as well as a 2008 Honorable Mention All-American.
Palencia, who will be joining Rozas as a co-captain next season, was given the Lynn Kachmarik Award, presented annually "for unwavering commitment and a selfless generosity to teammates". This season, Palencia tallied a career-high 87 points, fourth on the team, as well as career highs with 49 goals and 38 assists. Additionally, she now ranks 10th in career points with a total of 189 and ninth in career assists, totaling 80.
McGillis and Hermann shared the Class of '99 Award, which "recognizes the first graduating class whose perseverance and dedication led to the establishment of the program". This season, McGillis, a senior goalie, tallied a team-high .528 save percentage. Her 113 saves this season helped bring her career tally to 233, good for fifth on the career list. She also equaled her career high with 13 stops in her final game this past Sunday against Harvard at the Eastern Championship.
Hermann, a senior, spent the last two years as a student assistant for the water polo team. She played two years as a goalie and appeared in one game during that time.
McNally was awarded Most Improved Player. After appearing in only 18 games last season, she saw action in every match this year, starting in five of them. Last year she totaled three goals and five assists. This year she upped those tallies to six goals and five assists. McNally scored a season-best two goals against Chapman in March.
Skonezney earned this year's Rookie of the Year Award. She was one of two Bison freshmen to play every game this season, starting all but one. She won 77 of 143 sprints, a sprint percentage of .539, which is good enough for 10th in the single-season record books. Only a freshman, her 77 sprints won also puts her third on the career sprints won record list. The three-time CWPA Southern Division Rookie of the Week won a season-high six sprints against Wagner in February and had a perfect sprint record on six occasions this season. Additionally, she scored 27 goals while tallying 13 assists this season, scoring a season-high three goals twice.
This year, the Bison finished 18-17, with a 5-1 conference record, despite facing 12 ranked opponents. It was the fourth time in five seasons the Bison have finished above .500. Bucknell, which tied for first place in the Southern Division during the regular season, also qualified for the Eastern Championship for the eighth straight season.
2009 Bucknell Women's Water Polo Team Awards
Allyson Gillespie Award - Aubrey Rowe
Vicki Gorman Award - Valentina Rozas and Kandis Canonica
Class of '99 Award - Rachel McGillis and Kelsey Hermann
Lynn Kachmarik Award - Shana Palencia
Most Improved - Meghan McNally
Rookie of the Year - Amanda Skonezney
2010 Team Captains - Shana Palencia and Valentina Rozas
