Nov. 6, 2010
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- The Bucknell water polo team outscored Navy, 4-2, in a pivotal third quarter to hand the Midshipmen a 13-12 setback in the CWPA Southern Division Tournament semifinals on Saturday evening. The loss snaps Navy's eight-match winning streak and drops the Mids to 22-6 overall.
"Hats go off to Bucknell, Coach Abdou and Coach Rave. After we held them to four goals in Lewisburg a couple of weeks ago, their offense came alive at the right time for them and the wrong time for us. We did a poor job of defending and got beat to most of the important 50-50 balls in the game," said Navy head coach Mike Schofield. "We need to regroup tomorrow against Johns Hopkins and send our seniors out on a high note in their last home game."
Navy trailed 4-3 after one quarter, but tied the game at 7-7 at the halftime break. Bucknell then outscored the Mids, 4-2, in the third quarter and then held off a Navy rally for the 13-12 victory.
Stevie Ray led Navy with four goals, while Luke Baldwin and Jordan Carter had three goals each. Conor Handley scored twice. Anthony Gutierrez had nine blocks in goal for Navy.
The loss dropped Navy to 53-6 all-time in the CWPA Southern Division Tournament and to 43-1 against teams other than Princeton. The Bison become just the second team ever to beat Navy in the CWPA Southern Tournament.
The loss also drops Navy into Sunday's third-place game against Johns Hopkins, beginning at 2:00 pm at Macdonough Hall. The loss could also drop Navy to the fifth or sixth seed in the CWPA Eastern Championships in two weeks. Official pairings will come out early in the week.
# GO NAVY #
