Women’s Water Polo Falls to No. 23 Bucknell, No. 6 Michigan in CWPA Play

Saturday, April 6

Cambridge, MA

10:00 AM

Brown University

Bucknell University

Women’s Water Polo Falls to No. 23 Bucknell, No. 6 Michigan in CWPA Play

4/6/2019 11:45:00 AM | Women's Water Polo

Bucknell Results Michigan Results

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Brown University women's water polo fell to No. 23 Bucknell University, 8-4, and to No. 6 University of Michigan, 21-2, on Saturday at Harvard University's Blodgett Pool in a pair of Collegiate Water Polo Association games.

Playing in their first conference games since Mar. 1 and competing against a pair of top-25 opponents, the Bears (15-11, 0-3 CWPA) remained within 4-3 of Bucknell late in the third quarter before dropping decisions to the Bison (20-9, 1-0 CWPA) in game one and the Wolverines (16-8, 1-0 CWPA) in game two.

"We played two very strong, nationally ranked teams today, and stayed with Bucknell for a lot of that game," Brown head coach Felix Mercado said. "We still have three important league games next weekend and two more non-conference games to get us ready for our conference tournament."

Freshman Katie Klein (Lafayette, Calif.) scored two goals against Bucknell, senior McKenna Miller (Danville, Calif.) drew five ejections between the two games, and junior goalkeeper Lauren Burns (Long Grove, Ill.) totaled 13 saves on the day.

Next, Brown hosts Connecticut College on Tuesday, Apr. 9 at 6:30 p.m. in its first home game since Feb. 3 before playing George Washington (Apr. 13, 11:30 a.m.), No. 15 Princeton (Apr. 13, 5:00 p.m.), and St. Francis (Pa.) (Apr. 14, 9:00 a.m.) in Lewisburg, Pa., in the team's final league weekend of the year.

Game 1 – No. 23 Bucknell 8, Brown 4

Freshman Katie Klein scored two goals, and junior goalkeeper Lauren Burns made nine saves, but Brown fell to No. 23 Bucknell, 8-4, in CWPA action in its first game of the day on Saturday morning.

Competing in their first conference contest since Mar. 1, the Bears remained within 4-3 of the Bison late in the third quarter before Bucknell closed the game on a 4-1 run.

Klein (Lafayette, Calif.) paced the Brown offense with her two goals while sophomore Lily Keck (La Jolla, Calif.) tallied a goal and two steals. Senior McKenna Miller (Danville, Calif.) tallied a goal, two steals, and two ejections drawn. Sophomores Carissa Perez (Pico Rivera, Calif.) and Alli Schaum (San Rafael, Calif.) each dished out an assist.

Burns (Long Grove, Ill.) finished the game with nine saves, an assist, and a steal.

Klein opened the game's scoring with a goal just under four minutes into the contest. After the Bison netted three straight goals, Miller closed the quarter's scoring to bring the Bears within 3-2 at the end of one.

Klein started the second stanza's scoring with a goal, knotting the score at 3-3 with 2:46 to play in the half. Bucknell found the back of the net with 52 seconds to play in the half to take a 4-3 edge into the break.

Bucknell netted the only tally of the third quarter to pull ahead 5-3 heading to the final frame. The Bison scored the first two markers of the fourth to make the score 7-3. Keck cut the margin to 7-4 with 3:19 to play before Bucknell scored the contest's final goal.

Bucknell 8, Brown 4
Brown....................... 2…1…0…1…4
Bucknell................... 3…1…1…3…8
Brown Goals: Klein 2, Keck, Miller.
Brown Saves: Burns 9.

Game 2 – No. 6 Michigan 21, Brown 2

Brown dropped a 21-2 decision to No. 6 Michigan on Saturday afternoon in its second contest of the day.

The Bears trailed the Wolverines 5-0 at the end of the first quarter, 8-0 at halftime, and 15-1 through three quarters.

Freshman Lili Akin (Santa Barbara, Calif.) tallied a goal and a steal, senior Maigrie McDougal (Sacramento, Calif.) scored a goal, and senior McKenna Miller (Danville, Calif.) drew three ejections. Junior goalkeeper Lauren Burns (Long Grove, Ill.) turned aside four shots.

After Michigan took a 5-0 lead at the end of the opening stanza, the Wolverines scored the only three goals of the second quarter to take an 8-0 advantage at the break.

Michigan went up 14-0 before McDougal scored a goal with 1:07 left in the third quarter to bring the score to 14-1. The Wolverines brought a 15-1 edge into the final period.

Akin opened the fourth quarter's scoring, cutting the margin to 15-2 with 7:28 to play before the Wolverines tallied the contest's final six goals.

Michigan 21, Brown 2
Brown....................... 0…0…1…1…2
Michigan.................. 5…3…7…6…21
Brown Goals: Akin, McDougal.
Brown Saves: Burns 4.