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Bucknell Men's Water Polo to Host Eastern Championship this Weekend
Nov. 12, 2004 LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell men's water polo team earned its fifth consecutive berth in the Eastern Championship with a fourth-place finish at the Southern Championships two weeks ago. After their longest stretch without a game since the season started, the Bison will return to action Saturday at 12 p.m. against St. Francis (N.Y.). Bucknell's Kinney Natatorium will serve as host of the two-day event for the first time. The state-of-the-art facility hosted the women's Eastern Championship last spring and will become just the fifth venue outside of California to host the NCAA men's water polo championship in 2005. The weekend of games opens at 9 a.m. Saturday morning when Princeton faces MIT. The winner of the eight-team field will earn one of four berths in the NCAA Championship which will be hosted by Stanford Dec. 4-5. Bucknell's first opponent in the championship will be St. Francis (N.Y.), a squad that defeated the Bison 13-6 in the championship game of the ECAC Championships in September. The Terriers are ranked 10th in the latest national rankings and won the Northern Division Championship two weeks ago. Facing a ranked team is nothing new for the Bison, who faced 11 opponents that appeared in the national ranking at the time of their games. Bucknell (15-13) did upset then-No. 13 Navy 8-6 at the ECAC Championships. A trio of Bucknell veterans have led the way on the offensive side of the pool this year as senior co-captain Elliot Benoist, junior Bradley Roslyn and senior Jay Danforth have each tallied more than 50 points this season. Benoist, who will miss this weekend's action with an injury, leads the team with 29 assists and has added 37 goals for a team-high 66 points. His 116 career assists and 250 career points are highs among current Bison. Roslyn, who has drawn a team-high 36 ejections, ranks second on the squad with 44 goals and 60 points. He is just four scores short of his career-high total of 48 he registered last year. He has tallied at least 40 goals in each of his three seasons and has 132 in his career. Danforth has a team-high 48 steals this season, but also leads the way with 46 goals. With six assists to his credit, Danforth has 52 points this year. His 139 career goals top the list of current Bison in that category. The Los Altos, Calif., native also has a team-high 252 career steals. On the defensive side of the pool junior goalie Trevor Mullins has been solid. With 223 saves and 222 goals allowed, the Orinda, Calif., native sports a save percentage of .501. Just 150 saves shy of cracking Bucknell's top-10 career list, Mullins has started every game this season. If Mullins, who has 49 saves in his last four games, can stop at least 30 shots this weekend he will jump into 10th place on Bucknell's single season saves list. If Bucknell defeats St. Francis (N.Y.) Saturday, it will play the winner of the Navy-Brown contest at 7:45 p.m. Saturday. If the Bison fall to the Terriers, they will battle the loser of the Navy-Brown game at 5:15 p.m. Bucknell will play one additional game on Sunday. First game on Sunday is scheduled for 9 a.m., while the championship is slated for 1:30 p.m. 2004 Eastern Championship Schedule, Kinney Natatorium
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