Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Water Polo Heads To Princeton To Take On The Tigers
10/4/2012 8:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
Oct. 4, 2012
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell men's water polo team will travel to Princeton, N.J., to face No. 16 Princeton this Saturday. This will be the second meeting between the teams this season, after the Tigers defeated the Bison 13-9 at the North-South Tournament in mid-September.
Bucknell is 6-8 this season, coming off two victories last weekend against Harvard and MIT. The Bison went 4-0 in the home invitational, after defeating Toronto and Navy in exhibition matches in addition to Harvard and MIT. The Bison have an all-time record of 31-43 against the Tigers. Princeton has won nine of the last 11 games in the series. Bucknell`s last victory against the Tigers was last October at DeNunzio Pool.
The Tigers are currently 8-8 this season, after finishing a road trip to California with four losses and one win last weekend. Since its last game against the Bison, Princeton has dropped from No. 13 to No. 16 in the national rankings. The Tigers' freshman goalie, Alex Gow, finished against No. 3 Stanford with 17 saves in the game, despite Princeton's fall to the Cardinal. Gow has 81 saves and a .443 save percentage over 12 games this season. Sophomore Drew Hoffenberg leads the team with 32 goals, 42 steals, 19 assists and 34 ejections drawn.
Bison senior co-captain Matt Napleton played a very impressive game against Harvard at the Bison Invitational last weekend. The senior made 21 saves against the Crimson, becoming the first Bison since 2001 to have more than 20 saves in a single game. Napleton totaled 28 saves for the weekend, bringing his season total to 128. The senior is seventh on the career records list with 459 saves. Napleton recently received the honor of being names the CWPA Southern Division Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 18) after making 30 saves at the North-South Tournament.
Alex Nowlin had an impressive weekend in the Bison Invitational, reaching his 100th assist over his three-year career. The junior is just 27 assists shy of joining the program's top-10 list. Last year, Nowlin joined the single-season records list with 62 assists. Senior co-captain, Brian Barron, holds two places on the single-season records list for sprints won with 39 in 2009 and 42 in 2010. Barron was 5-for-8 in sprints last weekend, bringing him to a season total of 29-for-55.
After traveling this weekend, the Bison will play four league games at home Oct. 13-14 against league foes Johns Hopkins, Navy, George Washington, and Princeton.
Bucknell's Weekly Awards in 2012
CWPA Southern Division Defensive Player of the Week
- Matt Napleton (Sept. 18)
CWPA Southern Division Rookie of the Week
- Stefan Aleksic (Sept. 4)
Bison Athlete of the Week
- Alex Nowlin (Oct. 1)
