Bucknell University Athletics
No. 20 Bucknell Men's Water Polo Travels to ECAC Championship as Top Seed
9/17/2010 8:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Sept. 17, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. – After a pair of 3-1 weekends to start the season, the No. 20 Bucknell men's water polo team heads to the ECAC Championship this weekend. The Bison are the top seed in the 12-team field. The three-day event will be held at Harvard's Blodgett Pool.
Bucknell (6-2) will play its first of three games Saturday morning at 9 a.m. against the winner of Friday evening's Iona-George Washington matchup. The Bison will then play at either 5 p.m. (with a loss) or 7:40 p.m. (with a win). Sunday's championship contest is slated for 3:40 p.m.
Bucknell is one of three ranked teams to be in action at the ECAC Championship, joining No. 13 St. Francis (N.Y.) and No. 17 Princeton.
Bucknell Men's Water Polo Notebook (6-2, 0-0 CWPA)
• Bucknell heads back on the road after hosting the Bison Invitational last weekend. The Bison played four games at Kinney Natatorium and posted a 3-1 mark, defeating Toronto, Penn State Behrend and Brown before wrapping up the weekend with a 9-5 loss to nationally ranked St. Francis (N.Y.).
• Bucknell's offense has clicked all season. Even with just five goals in their last game, the Bison are averaging 16.1 goals per outing. Seven different players have already reached double figures in goals, led by Richie Hyden's 16.
• Bucknell is nearly halfway to its steal total from all of last year when it played 31 games. The Bison collected 246 steals in 2009. This year's team already has 116 thefts. Brian Barron paces the squad with 12, while freshman Trevor Reitz is also in double figures with 11.
• Bucknell is 52-2 in its last 54 games in which it has netted at least 10 goals.
• Richie Hyden enters the weekend with 196 career goals. He will likely become the ninth player in program history to reach the 200-goal plateau. He is just five assists shy of tying Jeff Hilk for eighth place on the all-time list in that category.
• No Bison player has appeared in the starting lineup in all eight games this season. Seniors Miles Gilhuly and Howie Kalter lead the way with seven starts apiece.
• Bucknell's eight-person freshman class has been productive through the early part of the season. The rookies have combined for 41 goals, 26 assists, 39 steals and 24 ejections drawn. Jack Else has been among the most productive freshmen, totaling 11 goals, four assists, nine ejections drawn and four steals.
• Miles Gilhuly has been Bucknell's most effective goalie. He has posted 51 saves in 208 minutes of play. A senior, he has appeared in all eight contests with seven starts. He enters the ECAC Championship with 283 career stops.
• Richie Hyden's 18 ejections drawn this season give him 147 in his career, good for second on the program's all-time list. He is just 35 shy of Gabriel Heiber's two-year-old program standard. Senior Sean Coghlan is fifth on that same list with 114 career ejections drawn.
• Bucknell will be aiming for its seventh consecutive top-five finish at the ECAC Championship. The Bison finished fifth last year and last made it to the championship game in 2004.
Bucknell's Weekly Awards in 2010
CWPA Southern Division Player of the Week
- Richie Hyden (Sept. 8)
Bison Athlete of the Week
- Richie Hyden (Sept. 6)
Bucknell vs. ECAC Championship Field
• Princeton: 29-37 (Teams have split last 12 meetings dating back to September 2007)
• St. Francis (N.Y.): 3-24 (St. Francis has won last 21 meetings, including 9-5 decision this past Sunday)
• Johns Hopkins: 36-16 (Bucknell holds 12-3 advantage since beginning of 2006)
• Brown: 20-27-2 (Bucknell has won 10 of last 11 meetings)
• Fordham: 33-2 (Bucknell swept 2009 season series 2-0)
• MIT: 15-1 (Met three times since 2005)
• Iona: 22-16 (Bucknell was 1-0 last year)
• George Washington: 36-11 (Bucknell swept season series 3-0 in 2009)
• Harvard: 14-7 (Bucknell has won last three meetings)
• Mercyhurst: 5-0 (Bucknell has outscored Mercyhurst 64-30)
• Washington & Jefferson: 12-0 (Bucknell won 17-3 in last meeting at 2007 Southern Championships)
Up Next
• Bucknell begins league play next weekend (Sept. 24-26). The Bison will play on the road at Johns Hopkins, Navy, George Washington and Princeton.
ECAC Championship Schedule
Friday, Sept. 17
Game 1: Iona vs. George Washington, 3 p.m.
Game 2: MIT vs. Harvard, 4:30 p.m.
Game 3: Fordham vs. Mercyhurst, 6 p.m.
Game 4: Brown vs. Washington & Jefferson, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 18
Game 5: Bucknell vs. Winner Game 1, 9 a.m.
Game 6: Princeton vs. Winner Game 2, 10:20 a.m.
Game 7: St. Francis (N.Y.) vs. Winner Game 3, 11:40 a.m.
Game 8: Johns Hopkins vs. Winner Game 4, 1 p.m.
Game 9: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 4, 2:20 p.m.
Game 10: Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3, 3:40 p.m.
Game 11: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 5 p.m.
Game 12: Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 6:20 p.m.
Game 13: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 8, 7:40 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 9 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 19
11th Place: Loser Game 9 vs. Loser Game 10, 9 a.m.
9th Place: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 10:20 a.m.
7th Place: Loser Game 11 vs. Loser Game 12, 11:40 a.m.
5th Place: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 1 p.m.
3rd Place: Loser Game 13 vs. Loser Game 14, 2:20 p.m.
1st Place: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14, 3:40 p.m.
ECAC Championship Seeds
No. 1 seed – Bucknell
No. 2 seed – Princeton
No. 3 seed – St. Francis (N.Y.)
No. 4 seed – Johns Hopkins
No. 5 seed – Brown
No. 6 seed – Fordham
No. 7 seed – MIT
No. 8 seed – Iona
No. 9 seed – George Washington
No. 10 seed – Harvard
No. 11 seed – Mercyhurst
No. 12 seed – Washington & Jefferson
