No. 23 Women's Water Polo Heads to California For Five Games

Thursday, March 12

Long Beach, Calif.

10 p.m. (ET)

Bucknell University

Long Beach State

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

No. 23 Women's Water Polo Heads to California For Five Games

3/10/2020 2:23:00 PM | Women's Water Polo

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell University women's water polo team, ranked No. 23 in the latest CWPA poll, will face a challenging slate with five games against ranked opponents in California.

Bucknell will take on No. 15 Long Beach State on Thursday before heading south to the Aztec Invitational at San Diego State for four games.

UPDATE: There have been several schedule changes announced for the Aztec Invite. Bucknell's new schedule is now listed below, and is also updated on the schedule page.

Bucknell Schedule (All Times Eastern)

Thursday, March 12,
10 p.m. at No. 15 Long Beach State
Friday, March 13
Bucknell vs. SDSU, 1 p.m.
Saturday, March 14
11 a.m. Bucknell vs. UCSD
2:45 p.m. Bucknell vs. CSUN
6:30 p.m. Bucknell vs. Long Beach State.

About the Bison

Bucknell went 1-3 at the Aztec Invite last year, and dropped its road contest to No. 15 Long Beach State last season. Bucknell fared better on its other California trip at the LMU Invite one week later, defeating No. 19 San Jose State and California State East Bay for a 2-2 weekend.
Head Coach John McBride picked up three more wins over the weekend, and has now moved within one win of tying John Zeigler (139) for the most wins in program history.
Junior Ally Furano broke the career goals record in Bucknell history with the third of her five goals against No. 25 California State East Bay on Saturday, passing Meagan Gins 08' for the most in school history. A. Furano scored 12 goals over the weekend in total.
Paige Furano also added four goals in the win over the Pioneers, the second win for the Bison over a ranked opponent this season. The sophomore also added a career-best six ejections drawn as Bucknell as a team drew 13, a season-high. P. Furano has scored 29 goals and added 25 assists this year.
Kali Hyham joined P. Furano with six ejections drawn in the win over East Bay, and has now drawn 37 this season. The junior from Garden Grove, Calif. passed Julianne Valdes (136) over the weekend, and has now collected 138 career ejections drawn, which ranks eighth on Bucknell's all-time list. Assistant Coach Hannah Sunday (387) is Bucknell's all-time record holder.
Gigi Rojahn has made an impact since returning as a regular starter for the Bison. The senior from Palo Alto, Calif. picked up a career-best four assists against Long Beach State at the Michigan Invite, and added six assists over the weekend.
Nina Benson has also put together a solid senior season to date. The native of Henderson, Nev. has scored 29 goals and added 25 assists, well on her way to passing her output of 34 goals and 27 assists as a junior. Benson needs 11 goals to reach 100 for her career.
Georgia Lewis returned to the cage after missing the Wolverine Invite, making 21 saves in four games. The sophomore from Redwood, Calif. needs one save for 100 for the season, and her 338 career saves rank seventh all-time at Bucknell.

About Long Beach State/Series History

Bucknell will take on the 49ers for the the second and third time this season, with Bucknell dropping a high-scoring 17-14 decision at the Wolverine Invite on March 1, the closest the Bison have come to defeating Long Beach State since an 8-6 defeat in 2016.
A. Furano scored five times in that game, along with four goals from Benson. A. Furano also picked up four steals in the defeat.
The Bison have never defeated the 49ers, dropping all 14 contests in the all-time series between the two schools.

About San Diego State/Series History

Bucknell has never defeated the Aztecs, dropping all 10 meetings to date between the two schools.
The two teams last met at the Aztec Invite last season, an 8-12 defeat for Bucknell on March 9, 2019.
A. Furano scored six of Bucknell's eight goals in the defeat, while Hyham drew seven ejections, a career-best. Hayley Pogue made five saves in the cage for the Bison.

About Wagner/Series History

Bucknell will meet the Seahawks for the third time this season, with Wagner taking both matchups so far.
With the two wins for the Seahawks in 2020, the all-time series is now tied between the two schools at 12-12, including ten straight victories for Wagner in the series.
Bucknell was held to a season-low five goals against the Seahawks to close the Harvard Invite in a 15-5 defeat, and also dropped an 8-17 decision to Wagner on Feb. 9 at Kinney Natatorium.

About UC San Diego/Series History

Bucknell is 0-11 all-time against the Tritons, with the two teams last facing off in 2019 at the Aztec Invite, an 11-4 defeat for the Bison.
The Tritons used an eight-goal second half to break open a 3-1 lead at the halftime intermission.
A. Furano and Hyham each added a goal, while Benson added two steals.

Up Next

Bucknell will host its final regular season home game on Saturday, March 21 at 6 p.m. vs. Saint Francis (Pa.) to begin CWPA play. The game will be Senior Night for seniors Hayley Pogue, Nina Benson, Katie Jo Nedrow, and Gigi Rojahn.