Women's Water Polo Opens CWPA Championship Friday vs. Hartwick

LEWISBURG, Pa. – With its success throughout the regular season, the Bucknell women's water polo team will be looking to finish the year on a high note at the CWPA Championship. The event will span three days, with Bucknell facing Hartwick in its first matchup on Friday at 3 p.m. at Harvard's Blodgett Pool.

This will be the 15th consecutive year in which the Bison have participated in the CWPA Championship, formerly known as the Eastern Championship. They earned a seventh-place finish in 2015, and will enter this season's tournament at 16-14 overall, including 4-3 in the conference.

That .571 conference win percentage helped the Bison earn a the No. 3 seed in the CWPA Championship, while Hartwick comes in as the No. 6 seed. Bucknell is also ranked 20th nationally, followed closely by the Hawks at No. 21.

Hartwick enters with a 15-12 overall record, including 3-4 in the CWPA, and is 15-1 all-time over the Bison. Although the 15-10 decision in early April went in favor of the Hawks, Bucknell will be looking to get the edge over Hartwick this time around. Bucknell has won its first matchup at the CWPA Championship four times in the last five seasons.

Ahead of the Bison in the CWPA Championship seedings are two teams they went up against in the final week of the regular season – top-seeded Michigan and second-seeded Indiana. Michigan is ranked nationally at No. 5, while Indiana comes in at No. 14. The winner of the Bucknell-Hartwick contest will face the winner of the Indiana-Brown match in the semifinals.

Bucknell will be looking to use its experience from the final week of the regular season at the CWPA Championship, having faced four ranked opponents in a span of two days. The squad's first ranked victories of the season came against No. 18 Harvard (7-6) and No. 15 Princeton (10-9) while falling 16-4 to No. 6 Michigan and 13-11 to No. 13 Indiana.

Hannah Sunday had a game-high five goals versus Princeton in the final contest of the weekend at Princeton, bringing her season scoring total up to 67 goals, tying her for fifth place on the program' single-season list. Manuela Herrera and Haley Derrod both shared goalkeeping duties, each earning a victory with a combined 18 saves in those two games.

Eleanor Marrs rounded out her stellar regular season with five goals, bringing her season totals to 60 goals and 53 assists, putting her in third place on the school's single-season points list with 113. Emily Konishi has had a standout rookie campaign with 34 goals and 31 assists, while Colleen Barron has added 35 goals and 33 successful sprints throughout the year. Each of these players will be aiming to improve on those totals by helping secure an opening victory over Hartwick on Friday.

The winner of the CWPA Championship will earn an automatic berth to the NCAA Championship in May. With 16 wins, the Bison have their most wins since 2010, and will be looking to secure a record over .500 for the first time since that same season.

Bucknell vs. Potential Weekend Opponents
Bucknell vs. Michigan: 0-19 (Would be second meeting between teams this season)
Bucknell vs. Indiana: 2-9 (Last Bison win came in 2008, 11-10 at the Princeton Invitational)
Bucknell vs. Princeton: 6-37 (This year's 10-9 victory ended a nine-match win streak for the Tigers)
Bucknell vs. Harvard: 12-16 (Teams last postseason meeting was at 2012 Eastern Championship)
Bucknell vs. Hartwick: 1-15 (Only Bison win came in 2005)
Bucknell vs. Brown: 8-16 (Bucknell snapped a three-game losing streak in the series with 13-9 win earlier this month)
Bucknell vs. George Washington: 38-19 (Bucknell swept three-game season series; Most wins against single team in program history)
Connecticut College: 1-0 (Bucknell won first meeting in series history by 10 goals at last year's CWPA Championship)

Bucknell's Weekly Awards/Honors in 2016
CWPA Player of the Week: Eleanor Marrs (March 3, March 31), Hannah Sunday (April 21)
Bison Athlete of the Week: Hannah Sunday (April 18)

2016 CWPA Championship Schedule (Harvard's Blodgett Pool):
Friday, April 29
Game 1 – No. 8 George Washington vs. No. 9 Connecticut College, 12 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 2 Indiana vs. No. 7 Brown, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3 – No. 3 Bucknell vs. No. 6 Hartwick, 3 p.m.
Game 4 – No. 4 Princeton vs. No. 5 Harvard, 4:30 p.m.
Game 5 – No. 1 Michigan vs. Winner Game 1, 6 p.m.

Saturday, April 30
Game 6 – Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 2, 12 p.m.
Game 7 – Loser Game 4 vs. Loser Game 1, 1:30 p.m.
Game 8 – Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3, 3 p.m.
Game 9 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 4:30 p.m.
Game 10 – Loser Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 6 p.m.
Game 11 – Winner Game 7 vs. Loser Game 5, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 1
7th Place – Winner Game 10 vs. Loser Game 11, 9 a.m.
5th Place – Winner Game 11 vs. Winner Game 6, 10:30 a.m.
3rd Place – Loser Game 8 vs. Loser Game 9, 12 p.m.
1st Place – Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 8, 1:30 p.m.