ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For the first time since 1994, No. 20-ranked Bucknell University will play for a Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) women’s championship and a berth to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship as the Bison turned back Saint Francis University, 8-5, in the opening round of the 2021 CWPA Division Championship hosted at the University of Michigan’s Canham Natatorium.
The win places the Bison (8-3, 5-2 CWPA) into the CWPA Championship title game at 7:00 p.m. this evening versus four-time defending champion/No. 7/host Michigan, while Saint Francis will meet Mount St. Mary’s University at 4:00 p.m. in the Third Place game. Bucknell went 0-2 against the Wolverines during the regular season at home in Kinney Natatorium with losses on March 20 (16-5 L) and April 11 (15-6 L).
Saint Francis (9-12, 2-5 CWPA) will meet a familiar foe in the Third Place game as the Red Flash downed Mount St. Mary’s three times (17-7 W, March 6 at Villanova University; 18-7 W, March 21 at Saint Fracis; 19-5 W, April 17 at Mount St. Mary’s) during the regular season.
Squaring off for the third time following a pair of Bucknell wins on April 11 (11-8 W at Bucknell) and April 17 (14-9 W at Mount St. Mary’s), the two teams stalked each other in the early going prior to the Bison pulling away from the Red Flash.
Bucknell opened the scoring with 6:12 left in the first quarter as Ally Furano (Sr., Stamford, Conn./The Ursuline School (N.Y.)) deposited a pass from Bella Moynihan (So., San Anselmo, Calif./Sir Francis Drake) into the cage to stake the Bison to a 1-0 lead. Abbie Carter (So., Abbotsford, British Columbia/St. John Brebeuf) answered for SFU at 3:12 as she converted on an exclusion call against Moynihan at 3:20 to not the contest at one-all.
However, Megan LaCroix (So., Saratoga, Calif./Saint Francis) put the Bison ahead to stay at 2:41 as she ripped in an unassisted strike to provide Bucknell a 2-1 lead after the opening eight minutes of action.
Ally Furano and Moynihan hooked up again at the 6:08 mark of the second quarter to give the Bison a two-score lead at 3-1, but Emese Szucs (Fr., Budapest, Hungary) delivered an answer by cashing in on a man-up chance at 5:38 off an assist by Julia Bradford (Jr., Edinboro, Pa./Villa Maria Academy) to pull Saint Francis back to within one at 3-2.
Bucknell returned its lead to a pair prior to the halftime horn as LaCroix dished off a helper to Paige Furano (Jr., Stamford, Conn./The Ursuline School (N.Y.)) with 32 ticks remaining in the second quarter to make it 4-2 heading into intermission.
The Bison wasted little time following the break further inflating their lead as Ally Furano took command with a trio of tallies in the third quarter.
She punched in back-to-back opportunities at the 6:30 and 3:51 as she deposited an unassisted score prior to putting away an assist from sister Paige to make it 6-2.
Taylor Halbauer (So., Edmoton, Alberta/Mother Margaret Mary) trimmed the Bucknell lead down to three (6-3) at 2:08 off an assist by Carter, but Ally Furano concluded her afternoon with the senior’s third of the quarter and fifth of the contest to return the Bison’s margin to four at 7-3 with 1:36 on the clock.
Saint Francis remained in the contest, however, as Addison Williams (So., Clovis, Calif./Sanger) lined in a five-meter penalty shot 14 seconds later to keep SFU within striking distance at 7-4 heading into the final eight minutes of regulation.
Neither team could add or subtract from the lead until the 4:38 mark when Paige Furano capped off the win by flushing a pass from Marcela Herrera (Sr., Windermere, Fla./Olympia) to double-up Saint Francis, 8-4.
The Red Flash was unable to overcome its deficit in the remaining time as Halbauer notched her second score of the game with seven seconds left for the 8-5 final score.
For Saint Francis, Halbauer led the way with a pair of goals. Williams (one goal), Szucs (one goal), Carter (one goal, one assist) and Bradford (one assist) also factored in the offense in support of a 12 save effort from goalie Rosalinda Rivera (Jr., Hatfield, Pa./North Penn).
Overall, Saint Francis is guaranteed to claim the program’s all-time highest finish at the CWPA Championship in the fourth trip for the Red Flash to the event.
In 2017 at Indiana University under then head coach Pat Beemer, the Red Flash burned George Washington University 11-10 before falling to Michigan (22-2 L), Indiana (16-6 L) and Brown University (12-3 L) to earn an Eighth Place finish in the nine-team field. At Bucknell in 2018, Saint Francis fell to Harvard University (11-3 L), the host Bison (16-4 L) and George Washington (12-6 L) to take Ninth Place. Finally, in 2019 at Brown, the Red Flash dropped a game to Princeton (12-3 L) prior to upending George Washington (11-7 W) and falling against Bucknell (13-8 L) to take sixth in a seven-team field
For Bucknell, the Furano sisters of Ally (five goals) and Paige (two goals, one assist) factored in seven of their team’s eight scores. Moynihan dished out a pair of assists, LaCroix added a goal and an assist and Herrara handed out a helper on offense, while goalie Sam Gove (So., Rockport, Mass./Phillips Exeter Academy (N.H.) was solid in cage with five saves.
The Bison’s 2021 title game appearance guarantees at least equaling the program’s all-time best finish at the CWPA Championship and will mark the highest placement in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship era regardless of the title game’s outcome.
Historically, Bucknell – which placed second at the CWPA Championship in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1994 versus Slippery Rock University prior to the NCAA starting a women’s varsity championship in 2000 – has previously placed third (2019), fourth (2006), fifth (2010, 2016, 2018), sixth (2008, 2014, 2017), seventh (2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015), eighth (2003, 2012), ninth (2000) and 11th (2002) in the many versions of the CWPA/Eastern Championship since 1999 with the 2020 event scrubbed due to the cancellation of the NCAA season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| 1st Q | 2nd Q | 3rd Q | 4th Q | – | FINAL | |
| Saint Francis University |
1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | 5 |
| No. 20 Bucknell University | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | 8 |
| Bucknell Goals: | Ally Furano (5); Paige Furano (2); Megan LaCroix | |||||
| Saint Francis Goals: | Taylor Halbauer (2); Abbie Carter; Addison Williams; Emese Szucs | |||||
| Saves: | Bucknell – Sam Gove (5) ; Saint Francis – Rosalinda Rivera (12) | |||||
| Exclusions: | Bucknell – 9 ; Saint Francis – 6 | |||||
| Advantage Opportunities: | Bucknell – 0-for-6 ; Saint Francis – 3-for-9 | |||||
| Sprints: | Bucknell – 0-for-4 ; Saint Francis – 4-for-4 | |||||
| Cards/Misconducts: | None | |||||
| Officials: | Alex Stankevitch, Igor Mernenko | |||||
