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Week of March 23 Bucknell Water Polo Notes
LEWISBURG, Pa. – For the
first time in the history of the program, a Bucknell women’s
water polo game will appear on television Saturday (March 28) when
the Bison take on league rival Princeton on ESPNU. The game is
slated for 11 a.m. at Princeton’s DeNunzio Pool, the home of
the 2009 NCAA Men’s Water Polo Championship.
Bucknell, which is in the middle of a two-week hiatus after
completing its Spring Break trip to California, will bring a 14-11
record into the contest, while Princeton stands at 12-7 going into
the weekend. Eamon McAnaney and former U.S. National Team goalie
Chris Dorst will call the action live on ESPNU. The game is
expected to be replayed Sunday, March 29, at 2:30 p.m. on
ESPNU.
Bucknell Women’s Water Polo Notebook (14-11, 1-1
CWPA)
Bucknell Notes
• Bucknell has not played since March 14, the conclusion of
its Spring Break trip to California. The Bison posted a 7-3 record
during their 10 games in the Golden State. They ended the trip on a
four-game winning streak, their longest of the season.
• Saturday’s contest marks the final road game of the
regular season for Bucknell. The Bison are 2-3 in true road games
this year.
• Bucknell has won 38 consecutive games when netting at least
10 goals. The Bison last lost a game when tallying double-figure
goals March 9, 2007 at Princeton. The Tigers won that game
15-12.
• Bucknell’s four-game winning streak is its longest
since it posted eight straight victories last March. That streak
came to an end with a 7-6 loss at Princeton.
• Bucknell, which returns home next weekend for its final
four regular-season contests, is 0-3 at Kinney Natatorium this
year. The Bison still own a 37-14 (.725) all-time record at Kinney
Natatorium.
• Bucknell has faced nine nationally ranked teams this year
and is 0-9 in those contests. Last year, the Bison were 2-7
opposite ranked foes.
• Second-year Bison head coach John Abdou now has a career
record of 40-21 at the helm of the women’s program. He led
the Bucknell men’s squad to a 17-16 record during the
fall.
• Bucknell has registered 205 assists this season, a figure
that ranks third in program history. Last year’s squad piled
up 259 assists, while the 2001 team had 222. Kandis Canonica leads
this year’s team with 49 assists, the third-most in program
history. Aubrey Rowe is second with 40. It is just the second time
two Bison have had at least 40 assists in the same season.
• Bucknell is six wins shy of its fourth 20-win season in the
last five years. The Bison will be playing their 347th all-time
game on Saturday. They own an all-time mark of 190-156 and are in
their 11th year as a varsity program.
• In a 14-7 win over Occidental earlier this month, junior
All-American Valentina Rozas tied the Bucknell record with seven
goals in a game. Her nine points were one shy of the program
standard, last achieved by Rowe in 2006.
• Canonica equaled her own program single-game record three
weeks ago against Cal Baptist when she dished out six assists. The
sophomore also had six assists last March vs. Wagner.
• Freshman Amanda Skonezney has won 56 of 97 sprints this
year. She is second on Bucknell’s single-season sprints won
list. Only two other Bison have taken a sprint this year. Last year
six different players attempted a sprint and Canonica won a
team-high 17.
• Rozas and Canonica are both likely to break
Bucknell’s scoring records this year. Rozas, who is the third
Bison to register two 60-goal seasons, is just nine goals shy of
Meagan Gins’ single-season record for goals (70), while
Canonica is on pace to break her own point (112) and assist (61)
records. Canonica has a team-high 94 points and 49 assists and has
registered at least one point in 16 consecutive games.
• Junior Shana Palencia, who has battled a shoulder injury
much of the season, has improved each year of her career. After
scoring 18 goals and 18 assists as a freshman when she was a
part-time starter, she improved to 42 goals and 24 assists last
year. In her second year as a full-time starter, she enters
Saturday’s game with 34 goals and a career-high 28 assists.
She is just four points shy of equaling her career high.
• Rowe, a senior captain, has tallied at least two points in
13 consecutive games. She has 20 multiple-point games overall this
season and 13 times has tallied at least four points in a game.
• Rozas is averaging 4.5 goals per game over her last four
outings. She has scored at least three goals in a game 14 times
this year.
• Earlier this year Rowe broke the Bucknell career steals
record. She now has 225 in her four-year career, 26 more than
second-place Meg Blitzer. Rowe is the only Bison who has played
since 2005 in the top seven on that list.
• Junior Alison Carter, a two-year starter in goal, has 112
saves this year. She has registered double-figure saves three times
and equaled her career high with 14 stops Feb. 15 vs. Maryland.
With 396 career saves, Carter ranks third in Bison history. She is
two spots ahead of Rachel McGillis, who recently crossed the
200-save plateau for her career.
• Six players have combined for 139 of a possible 150 starts
outside of the goal position for Bucknell this year. The Bison had
their top six players account for 214 of a possible 216 starts last
year.
• Bucknell has not appeared in the national rankings this
year after being ranked six weeks last year.
Bison on Career Record Lists
Kandis Canonica: Points (10th, 206), Assists (5th,
110)
Alison Carter: Saves (3rd, 396)
Rachel McGillis: Saves (5th, 207)
Shana Palencia: Assists (9th, 70), Sprints Won (7th, 38), Shots
(10th, 269)
Aubrey Rowe: Points (2nd, 314), Goals (3rd, 191), Assists (3rd,
123), Steals (1st, 225), Ejections Drawn (3rd, 130), Shots (2nd,
444), Games Played (9th, 118), Games Started (t-4th, 112, Sprints
Won (6th, 50)
Valentina Rozas: Points (7th, 236), Goals (4th, 178), Ejections
Drawn (2nd, 204), Shots (3rd, 412)
Amanda Skonezney: Sprints Won (3rd, 56)
Bucknell’s Weekly Awards in 2009
CWPA Southern Division Player of the Week (5)
- Valentina Rozas (Jan. 26, March 16)
- Aubrey Rowe (Feb. 9, Feb. 23 – co-player)
- Kandis Canonica (March 9)
CWPA Southern Division Rookie of the Week (4)
- Amanda Skonezney (Jan. 26, March 9, March 16)
- Hallie Kennan (Feb. 9)
Bucknell vs. Princeton
• Princeton leads all-time series 25-1.
• Princeton is Bucknell’s second most-common opponent,
following George Washington.
• Bucknell went 1-3 vs. Princeton in 2008.
• Bucknell’s lone victory in the series came last March
28 at Kinney Natatorium. The Bison won 6-5 as they scored three
goals in the final 3:52 to post the come-from-behind victory.
Meagan Gins and Valentina Rozas had two goals apiece, while Aubrey
Rowe had five steals for the Bison.
• Princeton has won the last three games in the series.
• Each of the four games last year were decided by one
goal.
• The last 10 games in the series have been decided by a
total of 16 goals.
• The last game in the series decided by more than three
goals was in 2005.
Last 10 Bucknell-Princeton Games
March 4, 2006: No. 16 Princeton 7, Bucknell 6 (Princeton,
N.J.)
March 11, 2006: No. 16 Princeton 7, Bucknell 6 (Lewisburg,
Pa.)
April 2, 2006: No. 19 Princeton 9, Bucknell 6 (College Park, Md.)
(ECAC Championship)
April 30, 2006: No. 20 Princeton 9, Bucknell 8 (Providence, R.I.)
(Eastern Championship)
March 9, 2007: No. 18 Princeton 15, Bucknell 12 (Princeton,
N.J.)
April 13, 2007: No. 16 Princeton 12, Bucknell 9 (Lewisburg,
Pa.)
March 28, 2008: Bucknell 6, No. 16 Princeton 5 (Lewisburg,
Pa.)
April 5, 2008: Princeton 7, No. 20 Bucknell 6 (Princeton,
N.J.)
April 19, 2008: Princeton 10, No. 20 Bucknell 9 (OT) (Lewisburg,
Pa.) (Southern Championships)
April 25, 2008: No. 20 Princeton 7, Bucknell 6 (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
(Eastern Championship)
Up Next
• Bucknell will wrap up its regular season next
weekend with four home games, including three key CWPA Southern
Division contests. The Bison will host Princeton on Friday night at
Kinney Natatorium in a game that will have live video available on
Bison Vision. The next day Bucknell will entertain George
Washington and Maryland. The Bison will then complete the weekend
and the regular season Sunday, April 5, at 11 a.m. against
non-conference foe Indiana. That contest will also be broadcast on
Bison Vision.
Release courtesy Bucknell Athletic
Communications
