Bucknell University Athletics
Joksimovic Earns Two More Weekly Awards, Bison Move Up to No. 10 in National Poll
9/28/2016 3:29:00 PM | Men's Water Polo
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell freshman Rade Joksimovic (Novi sad, Serbia/Gimnazija Jovan Jovanovic Zmaj) earned two more Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference weekly awards on Wednesday. One week after sweeping Player, Defensive Player and Rookie, he took home conference Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors. It marks the third time this year he has won multiple conference weekly awards, and they come two days after he was named the Bison Athlete of the Week for the second straight time.
Joksimovic now has nine weekly awards this season after just three weekends of competition. He has helped the Bison climb to No. 10 in the national polls, the highest in-season ranking in program history. Bucknell is off to a 9-1 start, including a recent 3-0 weekend against fellow Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference foes Navy, George Washington and Johns Hopkins.
Joksimovic opened the weekend with a nine-goal performance in a 20-11 win at Navy on Saturday evening. The nine goals marked the most by a Bison player since Josh Watts netted a school-record 13 in 1999. Joksimovic is tied for seventh place on the program's single-game goals list. He also had an assist and one steal in the win over the Mids.
On Sunday, Joksimovic scored two goals, dished out three assists and registered four steals in a 16-11 win at No. 16 George Washington. He followed that up with six goals, one assist, one steal and two ejections drawn in a 12-11 victory at Johns Hopkins. Joksimovic's goal with 32 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter put the Bison up 12-10 and proved to be the winning score in the contest.
Joksimovic now has a team-high 50 goals in 10 games this year and also leads Bucknell in steals (30) and sprints won (6). He ranks third on the squad with nine ejections drawn this season.
Bucknell, which is in the midst of playing seven consecutive games against conference opponents, will play at Wagner (12 p.m.) and Fordham (7 p.m.) on Saturday. The Bison are 38-3 all-time against Fordham and have never faced Wagner, a brand new men's water polo program in 2016.
