Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Water Polo Heads to California for Spring Break
3/8/2013 7:00:00 AM | Women's Water Polo
March 8, 2013
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell women's water polo team will take its annual Spring Break trip to California this coming week. The Bison will play 11 games in a nine-day span and face seven teams that appear in this week's national top-20 poll.
Bucknell (3-4, 1-2 CWPA Southern Division) opens its trip at this weekend's CSU Bakersfield Roadrunner Invitational, where it will play host CSU Bakersfield, Cal State Monterey Bay, No. 20 Pacific and Wagner. The Bison will also play three mid-week contests and four more at next weekend's Aztec Invitational.
Bucknell is coming off a pair of league losses in Erie, Pa., to Harvard and George Washington.
Freshman Hannah Sunday (15), senior Krystle Morgan (12) and junior Julianne Valdes (11) have combined to score 38 of the Bison's 60 goals this season. No other player has totaled more than five scores. Tara Murao, who has at least one assist in every game this year, has dished out a team-high 12 assists and Mackenzie Ferry has 10, giving Bucknell five players with double figures in points.
Morgan and Sunday have not only been good at scoring goals, they have drawn 41 of the squad's 60 ejections. Morgan now ranks sixth in program history with 111 ejections drawn thanks to her team-high 26 this year.
Junior goalie Rena Heim enters the week-long trip with 65 saves this year. She posted her fourth double-figure save outing of the season last weekend vs. Harvard and her 467 career stops rank fourth in program history.
Bucknell's Weekly Awards in 2013
CWPA Southern Division Rookie of the Week
- Hannah Sunday (Feb. 18(co-rookie))
Bison on Career Record Lists
Rena Heim: Saves (4th, 467)
Krystle Morgan: Ejections Drawn (6th, 111)
Tara Murao: Ejections Drawn (8th, 104)
Stephanie Ovalle: Sprints Won (t-6th, 53)
Julianne Valdes: Assists (9th, 93), Ejections Drawn (9th, 95), Sprints Won (4th, 83)
Bucknell's Ranked Opponents on California Trip
No. 7 San Diego State
No. 8 Hawaii
No. 9 Long Beach State
No. 15 Cal State Northridge (twice)
No. 17 UC San Diego
No. 20 Pacific
Up Next
Bucknell will be idle for two weekends after returning from California. The Bison will then wrap up the regular season with a pair of league games against Mercyhurst and Princeton the weekend of April 6-7.
