Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Water Polo Travels to MIT for this Weekend's CWPA Championship
11/19/2015 10:36:00 AM | Men's Water Polo
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Competing for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, the Bucknell men's water polo team will be participating this weekend in the CWPA Championship at MIT. The squad will be looking to earn its first title since 1980.
This year's CWPA Championship will take place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Nov. 20-22, and the winner of the event will receive the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
The Bison, who are ranked 15th nationally and seeded seventh in the tournament, will be facing 10th-seeded George Washington in the second match of the day on Friday at 11:20 a.m. The Bison are 48-14 all-time against George Washington, including two victories over the Colonials this season. If they win their first game, the Bison would then go up against Princeton at 4:40 p.m. Princeton finished first in the CWPA Southern Division, East Region.
Bucknell lost its opening game 8-7 to St. Francis Brooklyn at last year's CWPA Championship, but the Bison rebounded to win their next two games and finish in fifth place on the weekend, ending their season with a 17-9 record. This year's top two seeds, Brown and Princeton, both reached the title game a season ago, with Brown coming away victorious in a close 7-6 match. This was the first time since 2002 that a team other than Princeton, Navy or St. Francis won the CWPA Championship.
No. 10 Brown, No. 11 Princeton, No. 12 Harvard and No. 19 Johns Hopkins are the other ranked teams that are competing in this year's tournament. There will be some familiar faces for Bucknell, as it has faced all but one of the squads in the 12-team field at some point this year.
The Bison earned the seventh seed in this year's tournament after its fourth-place finish at the Southern Championships two weekends ago. They defeated their first two opponents, Washington & Jefferson and Penn State Behrend, after scoring a combined 32 goals, but could not muster that same offensive firepower in the semifinals and fell 8-4 to Johns Hopkins. The Bison then pushed Navy to overtime in the third-place game, but ended up dropping the hard-fought match 15-13.
A few standouts on the team have helped Bucknell reach the level it's currently at and will be important pieces in helping the squad perform well at the CWPA Championship.
Senior Stefan Aleksic surpassed the 200-goal mark in his career at the Southern Championships, putting him at 10th all-time at Bucknell. Fifty-seven of those goals have come this season, and he now has 351 points in his career, ninth-most in program history.
Sean Daley leads the team with 48 assists this season, which is the most by a Bison player since Aleksic had 50 back in his rookie season in 2012. Daley has also scored 31 goals on 75 shots, in addition to recording 45 steals.
Jeff Hagen and Ratimir Babic both surpassed the 50-point mark on the season at the Southern Championships. Hagen has had much success finding the back of the net with 51 goals, while Babic has demonstrated balanced offensive play with 25 goals and 26 assists.
Goalkeeper Charlie Niehaus also had strong performances two weekends ago, as his 14 saves versus Navy was the most for him in a single game this season. Niehaus now has 221 saves in 26 starts as the only goalkeeper on the roster.
Several freshmen have also made strong impacts on the program. Borna Bolanca and Marko Djordjevic have each seen significant action in 25 contests, combining for 45 goals in the process. This will be their first action at the CWPA Championship, while the seniors will be looking to bring home the title in their last opportunity to secure it.
The semifinals will begin at 4:40 p.m. on Saturday, and the championship game will be held at 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Bucknell's Weekly Awards in 2015
CWPA Player of the Week: Stefan Aleksic (Sept. 17), Sean Daley (Oct. 16)
CWPA Rookie of the Week: Borna Bolanca (Oct. 16)
Bison Athlete of the Week: Sean Daley (Oct. 12)
Bucknell in National Rankings in 2015
Preseason: t-No. 19
Sept. 9: No. 17
Sept. 16: No. 17
Sept. 23: No. 15
Sept. 30: No. 15
Oct. 7: No. 13
Oct. 14: No. 13
Oct. 21: t-No. 14
Oct. 28: No. 14
Nov. 4: No. 15
Nov. 11: No. 18
Nov. 18: No. 15
2015 CWPA Championship Schedule:
Friday, Nov. 20
Game 1: No. 8 seed Fordham vs. No. 9 seed MIT, 10 a.m.
Game 2: No. 7 seed Bucknell vs. No. 10 seed George Washington, 11:20 a.m.
Game 3: Southern Third Place Navy vs. No. 11 seed Washington & Jefferson, 12:40 p.m.
Game 4: Northern Third Place St. Francis vs. No. 12 seed Mercyhurst, 2 p.m.
Game 5: Northern First Place Brown vs. Winner Game 1, 3:20 p.m.
Game 6: Southern First Place Princeton vs. Winner Game 2, 4:40 p.m.
Game 7: Northern Second Place Harvard vs. Winner Game 3, 6 p.m.
Game 8: Southern Second Place Johns Hopkins vs. Winner Game 4, 7:20 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 21
Game 9: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 4, 11:20 a.m.
Game 10: Loser Game 2 vs. Loser Game 3, 12:40 p.m.
Game 11: Loser Game 8 vs. Loser Game 5, 2 p.m.
Game 12: Loser Game 7 vs. Loser Game 6, 3:20 p.m.
Game 13: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:40 p.m.
Game 14: Winner Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 6 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 22
11th Place: Loser Game 10 vs. Loser Game 9, 9 a.m.
Ninth Place: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 10:20 a.m.
Seventh Place: Loser Game 12 vs. Loser Game 11, 11:40 a.m.
Fifth Place: Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 12, 1 p.m.
Third Place: Loser Game 14 vs. Loser Game 13, 2:30 p.m.
First Place: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14, 4 p.m.
