PROVIDENCE, RI  -- Junior Aisha and sophomore Shayna Price (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) combined for four goals to share Player of the Game honors and outscore Bucknell University as Harvard University used strong showings in the second and fourth periods to pick up an 11-3 victory and a seventh place mark at the 2012 Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship.

The Crimson (17-12) used a strong defensive performance by goalies Ariel Dukes (Fr., Winter Park, Fla./Winter Park) and Jasmine Griffin (Fr., Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) to repeatedly shut down the Bison scoring attempts in limiting Bucknell to three goals in the middle of the contest.

Overall, Harvard held a 16-to-11 advantage in shots on goal as the Crimson posted pairs of goals in the first and third periods, four in the second and three more in the fourth to overcome a Bucknell squad that entered the game 0-3 against the Cambridge, Mass. squad.

In their three previous meetings in Southern Division competition, Harvard downed the Bison 14-5, 13-8 and 15-7 as the Crimson finish the season with an average margin of victory over seven goals per game (30 goals in four games).

Harvard opened the scoring with 1:15 off the inaugural game clock as Shannon Purcell (Sr., Danville, Calif./Monte Vista) put the Crimson on the board with 6:45 remaining in the opening period.

Aisha Price wasted little time in the contest in cushioning as she roped a shot past Bucknell goalie Brittany Connell (Sr., Montebello, Calif./Montebello) on a man-up chance at the 4:57 mark of the first quarter.

Monica Zdrojewski (Sr., Laguna Niguel, Calif./Dana Hills) expanded the spread to 3-0 midway through the second quarter as she batted a ball into the cage at 4:54.  The shutout and three-goal lead came to an end at 4:26 as Julianne Valdes (So., Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) pinned a shot under the crossbar off an exclusion chance to shrink Bucknell's deficit to 3-1.

However, the next three goals and three-and-a-half minutes of the game belonged to Harvard as Aisha Price registered a five-meter tally at 4:12, Bucknell head coach John McBride took a yellow card at 3:23, Purcell pounded the cage with a natural goal at 1:29 and Lizzie Abbott (Sr., Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) chipped in an even strength bomb of her own with 51 seconds remaining in the first half to build a 6-1 lead.

The margin lasted for 36 seconds before Krystle Morgan (Jr., Rowland Heights, Calif./Rosary) trimmed the Bucknell deficit back to four (6-2) with a line-drive off an advantage chance that eluded Dukes and made it a 6-2 game at intermission.

Devan Kennifer (Sr., Monterey, Calif./Santa Catalina) returned the lead to a five at 7-2 to start the second half by finishing a pass from the wings for her team's seventh tally of the day at the 7:26 mark.  

Bucknell responded with a rising shot by Becca Shopiro (Sr., Buffalo Grove, Ill./Adlai E. Stevenson) at the 6:39 mark to make it 7-3, but the Harvard defense stiffened and offense came back to life to close out both teams' seasons.

Shayna Price padded the margin further at 4:58 of the third quarter with a man-up strike, while Zdrojewski (7:08) and Purcell (1:30) finished out the scoring blows by connecting on natural strikes in the fourth quarter as Harvard took the win.

Dukes finished with seven saves in going the majority of the way to capture the victory, with back-up Griffin chipping in a solo save in the fourth period. 

For Bucknell, Valdes, Shopiro and Morgan each registered single markers on offense, while Connell added five saves in taking the loss.

Harvard Goals: Shannon Purcell (3); Aisha Price (3); Monica Zdrojewski (2); Shayna Price; Devan Kennifer; Lizzie Abbott 

Bucknell Goals: Julianne Valdes; Becca Shopiro; Krystle Morgan

Saves: Harvard -  Ariel Dukes (7), Jasmine Griffin (1) ; Bucknell - Brittany Connell (5)

Exclusions: Harvard - 9 ; Bucknell - 7

Advantage Opportunities: Harvard - 3-for-7 ; Bucknell - 2-for-9

Sprints: Harvard - 1-for-4 (Second) ; Bucknell - 3-for-4 (First, Third, Fourth)

Cards: YC - John McBride (Bucknell HC, 3:23 - Third Period)

Officials: Val Vasilchikov, Perry Korbakis

Harvard University's Lizzie Abbott prepares to shoot over Bucknell University's Amanda Skonezney