Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Travels to Princeton as No. 1 Seed at this Weekend's Southern Championships
4/23/2010 8:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
April 23, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell women's water polo team begins postseason play this weekend at the Southern Championships in Princeton, N.J. The Bison earned the No. 1 seed with a 5-1 league record and take on fourth-seeded George Washington at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The winner of that matchup will face the winner of Saturday's contest between No. 2 Princeton and No. 3 Maryland at 1 p.m. on Sunday, in a game that will decide the champion of the four-team tournament. First- and second-place finishers in the four-team field grab automatic berths to next weekend's Eastern Championship in College Park, Md.
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Notebook (13-9, 5-1 CWPA)
• Bucknell finished the regular season with a 13-9 overall record, ending the regular season with a 14-12 home loss against No. 11 Hartwick last Friday and a road victory at Maryland on Sunday, 11-10.
• The Bison tied for first place in the CWPA Southern Division with Princeton with a 5-1 conference record, but Bucknell was able to claim the No. 1 seed with a +4 goal differential in games between the two teams this year.
• The Bison are 8-4 in their last 12 games. All four of those losses came against opponents that are ranked in the most recent national poll (No. 14 UC Santa Barbara, No. 16 UC Irvine, No. 19 Princeton, No. 10 Hartwick). The Bison won a league matchup with then-No. 19 Princeton on March 27, but the team remains 1-6 against ranked teams this season.
• Bucknell is now 16-3 in its last 19 regular-season league games against conference opponents. Their win at Maryland on Sunday allowed the Bison to reach a 5-1 record in league play for the third consecutive year.
• Bucknell is 2-2 at Princeton's DeNunzio Pool this season, but 0-2 against league foes. The Bison defeated Iona and Harvard at the ECAC Championship in February, but dropped their first game that weekend to Maryland as well as a league game to the Tigers earlier this month.
• Bucknell has finished in the top three at the Southern Championships five of the last six years. The Bison were the runner-ups in 2008, the last time they held the No. 1 seed. The team hopes to avenge a consolation round overtime loss to the Colonials at the 2009 Championships on Saturday.
• Three Bison earned weekly conference honors this week. Kandis Canonica was named the CWPA Co-Player of the Week, Alison Carter earned Defensive Player of the Week honors, while Krystle Morgan picked up her second Rookie of the Week citation this year. It is the second time this season this same trio swept the weekly awards.
• Bucknell is receiving votes in the latest top-20 national poll. It is the second time the Bison have received a vote in the poll this year. Bucknell has not been ranked since April 17, 2008, when it was listed 20th nationally. The Bison were ranked six weeks overall that season.
• Senior Valentina Rozas is 13 goals and 43 points shy of equaling the Bucknell career records in those categories. She has 224 goals and 91 assists in her career for a total of 315 points. After last weekend's matchups with Hartwick and Maryland, Rozas surpassed 2009 graduate Aubrey Rowe for second-most career goals. She also holds the career record for ejections drawn with 278.
• Junior Kandis Canonica enters the weekend with 317 career points, and moved past teammate Valentina Rozas for the third spot in the top 10 by earning six points in each of Bucknell's games last weekend. She and Rozas are two of just four Bison to register at least 300 points. Canonica is also the career assists leader with 170, 28 more than second-place Adrienne Schober, who held the record for nearly a decade.
• Alison Carter has registered 204 saves this year, surpassing her 2009 total. She now has 664 stops in her career, ranking her third in program history. She is just the third Bison to record two 200-save seasons. Carter also leads this year's squad with 50 steals and has recorded 10 double-figure save performances in the cage. Her 157 career steals is also in the top 10 in program history.
• Kandis Canonica and Amanda Skonezney are the only two Bucknell players to start all 22 games this year. Canonica is the only Bison to have scored a point in each game this season. The junior has a team-high 82 points.
• Bucknell has been especially strong late in games this year. The Bison are outscoring their opponents 52-33 in the fourth quarter. Bucknell has outscored its opponents by 23 goals overall (226-203).
• With at least one win at the Southern Championships or Eastern Championship, Bucknell will clinch its third consecutive above-.500 finish. The Bison are 57-36 over the last three campaigns and have finished above .500 in four of the last five years. Bucknell was above .500 just twice in the first six years of the program (1999-2004).
Bison on Career Record Lists
Kandis Canonica: Points (3rd, 317), Goals (7th, 147), Assists (1st, 170), Ejections Drawn (4th, 124), Shots (9th, 358)
Alison Carter: Steals (7th, 157), Saves (3rd, 664)
Shana Palencia: Points (9th, 233), Goals (9th, 138), Assists (6th, 95), Steals (8th, 155), Sprints Won (7th, 38), Shots (5th, 394), Games Played (9th, 121), Games Started (8th, 102)
Valentina Rozas: Points (4th, 315), Goals (2nd, 224), Assists (8th, 91), Steals (4th, 188), Ejections Drawn (1st, 278), Shots (2nd, 553), Games Played (t-8th, 124), Games Started (t-3rd, 120)
Amanda Skonezney: Sprints Won (2nd, 109)
Bucknell's Weekly Awards in 2010
CWPA Southern Division Player of the Week
- Kandis Canonica (Feb. 16, April 19), Hallie Kennan (March 1, March 15, March 30)
CWPA Southern Division Defensive Player of the Week
- Alison Carter (Feb. 16, March 15, April 19), Valentina Rozas (March 10)
CWPA Southern Division Rookie of the Week
- Krystle Morgan (Feb. 16, April 19), Tara Murao (March 30)
Damon's Bison Athlete of the Week
- Hallie Kennan (March 29)
Bucknell vs. Southern Championships Field
• George Washington: 24-13 (Bucknell has won 20 of the last 21, its only loss coming at the 2009 Southern Championships)
• No. 19 Princeton: 4-28 (Bucknell 4-6 in last 10 meetings)
• Maryland: 19-8 (Bucknell has won five of last seven)
2010 Records of Southern Championships Field
• George Washington: 7-15, 0-6 CWPA
• No. 19 Princeton: 17-8, 5-1 CWPA
• Maryland: 13-16, 2-4 CWPA
Up Next
• The top two teams in the Southern Championships earn automatic berths to the Eastern Championship, which will be held April 30-May 2 in College Park, Md. The Bison have qualified for the Eastern Championship eight consecutive years, finishing as high as fourth in 2006. There are also two at-large berths to the Eastern Championship available. The winner of the Eastern Championship receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Championships. Bucknell has never qualified for the NCAA Championships.
