Bucknell University Athletics
Matt Napleton Receives Senior Athletic Award at Bucknell
4/30/2013 8:00:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
April 30, 2013
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell senior Matt Napleton (Oak Park, Ill./Fenwick), a member of the Bison men's water polo team, received a special award at the University's annual Senior Athletic Awards Banquet, sponsored by the Bison Club and held at the Elaine Langone Center on Tuesday, April 30.
Napleton won the Lee S. "Bud" Ranck Memorial Award, presented to senior athletes "for outstanding spirit and contribution to the Bucknel athletic program." Napleton shared the award with Alex MacLean of the softball team, who was the female selection.
In addition to Napleton, several other student-athletes were honored at the banquet, including the winners of the Christy Mathewson Award, given to the most outstanding athletes in the senior class.
A two-time First Team All-CWPA Southern Division selection, Napleton helped the Bison to their first-ever Southern Championships title in 2012. He stopped 14 shots in the 9-4 title game victory over Mercyhurst that marked the second-fewest goals Bucknell allowed all season.
Napleton was a Second Team All-Eastern Championship selection this past fall, helping the Bison advance to the Eastern Championship title game for the first time since 1993. Bucknell lost the title game to St. Francis (N.Y.) in overtime, just missing out on the program's first NCAA berth since 1985. Napleton posted 28 saves during the Eastern Championship, including 10 against the Terriers.
A two-year starter, Napleton finished his senior season with 330 saves to rank third on Bucknell's single-season list. His 661 career stops are sixth in program history. He registered double-figure saves in 19 of 31 games in 2012 and his save total increased each year of his career. Napleton posted a career-high 21 saves last fall vs. Harvard, marking the first 20-save performance by a Bison since 2001.
A four-year member of the ACWPC All-Academic Team and a four-time CWPA Scholar-Athlete, Napleton was a team co-captain in 2012. He owns a 3.72 grade-point average while majoring in economics.
Bucknell is a highly selective, privately endowed liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 3,500 undergraduate students. Bucknell competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Patriot League and has full membership along with American, Army, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh and Navy. Bucknell has won the Presidents' Cup, signifying the Patriot League's all-sports champion, in 17 of 22 years, including 13 of the last 15.
