Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Brown
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Claims Fifth Place at Eastern Championship with 8-7 Overtime Victory vs. Brown
5/2/2010 8:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
May 2, 2010
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Haley Prickett (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) scored the tying goal with five seconds remaining in overtime and Shana Palencia (Glendale, Calif./Hoover) and Meghan McNally (Floral Park, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy) netted overtime goals as the Bucknell women's water polo team ended its 2010 campaign on a high note with an 8-7 overtime victory against Brown Sunday at the Eastern Championship. The Bison finished fifth in the eight-team field, their best showing at the event since a fourth-place finish in 2006.
Bucknell (17-10) jumped out to a 3-1 advantage in the first quarter, but failed to score in the middle two periods as Brown jumped on top by a 5-3 margin entering the final eight minutes of play. The Bears clung to a 6-5 lead in the final minute when Prickett netted her only goal of the contest in the closing seconds in a man-up situation.
In the first of two three-minute overtime periods, the fourth-seeded Bison scored twice as McNally put them up 7-6 and Palencia gave a two-goal cushion when she put in her second goal of the game on a lob at the buzzer. Brown's only goal in overtime came in the closing seconds.
Senior Alison Carter (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor) made 13 saves in goal for the Bison, giving her 258 on the season, the fourth-best mark in program history.
All three Bucknell seniors contributed greatly to the win in their final career game as Palencia totaled two goals, including the winning score, and one assist, while classmate Valentina Rozas (Pico Rivera, Calif./El Rancho) tallied two goals, two assists, one steal and two ejections drawn. She completed her career with 232 goals, just five shy of Meagan Gins' program standard. The four-time all-conference selection also had 99 assists in her career, giving her 331 total points, fourth-best in school history.
The Bison utilized a balanced scoring attack on Sunday as six different players registered the eight goals. Leading scorer Kandis Canonica (Burlingame, Calif./St. Ignatius Prep) scored one goal and dished out two assists, giving her exactly 100 points on the year. She is the first player in program history to post three 100-point seasons.
Bucknell went 2-1 at this weekend's Eastern Championship, defeating eighth-seeded Harvard and sixth-seeded Brown after losing a first-round matchup with No. 5 seed Princeton. The Bison's win over the Bears avenged a 12-7 loss to them at the Elite Eight Tournament earlier this year.
By completing the season 17-10, Bucknell finished above .500 for the third straight year, and fifth time in the last six years. The fifth-place finish at the Eastern Championship is the second-best in program history. Additionally, the Bison won their first-ever Southern Championships title last week.
BUCKNELL 3 0 0 3 2 0 -8
BROWN 1 2 2 1 0 1 -7
Goals: Palencia (2), Rozas (2), McNally, Canonica, Prickett, Kennan.
Assists: Rozas (2), Canonica (2), Palencia, Murao, Kennan, Carter.
Field Blocks: None
Ejections Drawn: Canonica (3), Rozas (2), Shopiro (2), Murao, Prickett.
Saves: Carter (13 svs., 7 ga., 32:00 min.).
Steals: Carter (4), Skonezney (2), Prickett (2), White, Shopiro, Rozas, Carroll.
Sprints: Skonezney (0-6).
Record: 17-10.
