April 13, 2008

The Bucknell women's water polo team clinched the top seed at next week's Southern Championships with a 12-10 victory at Maryland on Sunday morning. The win also broke the program record for victories in a season as the Bison improved to 24-6 overall and 5-1 in CWPA Southern Division play.

While Bucknell never trailed, there was some controversy in the contest as following the game Maryland (20-13, 3-3 CWPA) filed a protest on a five-meter penalty shot with the Bison leading 9-5. After postgame deliberation, the protest was not upheld and the 12-10 final score remained in place.

In a game that decided the top seed at Southerns, it was the seniors who led the way for Bucknell as Meagan Gins (Albuquerque, N.M./Valley) and Jennifer Swoyer (Erie, Pa./McDowell) tied for team-high honors with five points apiece. Gins totaled three goals and two assists, while Swoyer had two goals and a team-high three assists.

Shana Palencia (Glendale, Calif./Hoover), Valentina Rozas (Pico Rivera, Calif./El Rancho) and Aubrey Rowe (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) each registered two goals as the sophomore, junior and senior classes accounted for all but one of Bucknell's goals in the game.

Sophomore Alison Carter (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor) made 10 saves and recorded six steals while playing the whole game in goal for Bucknell. The six steals were a career high and the most by a Bison player this year.

Overall, Bucknell, which swept the season series from Maryland, totaled 20 steals, just two shy of its season high. It is averaging 14 steals per game this season with Rowe's 69 leading the way.

The game between Bucknell and Maryland was going to decide the top seed at Southerns. The Bison entered the contest one game ahead of both the Terrapins and Princeton, but Maryland would have won the tiebreaker on goal differential if there had been a two-way tie or a three-way tie atop the conference standings at 4-2.

Bucknell will enter next Saturday's Southern Championships having finished in the top two at the event just one time (2005). That same year was the first of two consecutive seasons in which the Bison won 23 games, which now ranks second on the program's single-season victory list.

The Bison will wrap up the 2008 regular season with a non-league game against No. 11 Michigan Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in College Park, Md.

BUCKNELL     4 2 4 2 -12
MARYLAND    2 2 3 3 -10

Goals: Gins (3), Palencia (2), Swoyer (2), Rozas (2), Rowe (2), Prickett.
Assists: Swoyer (3), Gins (2), Carter (2), Canonica.
Ejections Drawn: Rozas (6), Allen (3), Gins (2), Swoyer, Prickett, Rowe.
Saves: Carter (10 svs., 10 ga., 32:00 min.).
Steals: Carter (6), Rowe (4), Palencia (2), Rozs (2), Canonica (2), Gins, Swoyer, Prickett, Allen.
Sprints: Canonica (0-2), Palencia (0-1), Rowe (0-1).
Record: 24-6, 5-1 CWPA Southern Division