Bucknell Women’s Water Polo had a busy weekend, facing off against Michigan, Harvard, Brown and Princeton, all at home.
The first match for the Bison was against Michigan, the #11 ranked team in the country, and Bucknell fell to the Wolverines despite a tough fight.
Isabelle Monaghan ’24 got Bucknell on the board after a foul call at the 3:48 mark to tie the game up 1-1. After another goal from Michigan, Malli Challa ’26 put one through the net to tie it up again at 2-2.
But, the Bison struggled to get some more points on the board after these two early scores, and found themselves down 7-2 at halftime. However, the team came out of the locker room hot.
The Bison only allowed Michigan one goal in the third quarter while scoring three of their own, bringing the score to 8-5 at the end of the third quarter.
It was a back and forth final quarter of the game. Bucknell went on a late 3-0 run behind two goals from Bella Schraa ’26 and another from Caitlin Stott ’27, but it wasn’t enough to take the lead back, and Bucknell fell 13-7.
After falling to Michigan on Friday, Bucknell had two games on Saturday.
Up first was against #19 ranked Harvard, where the Bison were able to upset the Crimson 11-10.
The first half was completely back and forth in terms of scoring, with neither team able to give themselves any sort of leeway with a lead. Anna Plante ’26 kicked off the scoring for the Bison, followed by Boati Motau ’25 scoring on two consecutive fouls by Harvard.
Later in the half, Schraa scored back-to-back goals and Motau completed a hat trick before the half was over. This left the Bison entering the half with an 8-5 lead.
Bucknell played conservatively the rest of the match and didn’t make any unnecessary mistakes to Harvard to allow them to get back in the game. Bucknell won 11-10.
The second game of the day was against Brown.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Orange and Blue were able to get on the board with goals from Monaghan and Gwen Kallmeyer ’26. Kallmeyer scored three of the four goals for Bucknell, and no one would score besides Monaghan and Kallmeyer. The second half was one where Brown was easily able to get away, winning 10-4.
On Sunday, Bucknell concluded regular season play against #15 ranked Princeton.
Schraa set the tone of the contest first, scoring quickly to put Bucknell on the board. The Bison then went cold offensively again, only notching two successful shots on goal throughout the entire third quarter.
Monaghan then scored two within the final three minutes of the third, yet Bucknell’s drought was enough to let Princeton get away. Tamara Torkos ’27 scored one more time for the Bison, but the Orange and Blue would end up falling 12-5.
Bucknell ends the regular season 6-19 overall and 2-7 in Patriot League play.
