Hartwick Announces 2009 Schedule

ONEONTA, N.Y. -- 2004, 2006 & 2007 Eastern Championship champion Hartwick College has announced the program's 2009 schedule following a 2008 season in which the program advanced to its third straight Collegiate Water Polo Association Eastern Championship game. 

The Hawks, who will seek their ninth consecutive Collegiate Water Polo Association Northern Division championship, will open the season on February 1 at UC-Irvine with hopes of playing until the NCAA Championship on May 10 at the University of Maryland.

Following games against UC-Irvine, Pomona-Pitzer Colleges and CSU-Bernadino on February 1 in Irvine, Hartwick will continue a West Coast swing with stops at USC (February 4), UC-San Diego and San Diego State University (February 5) before wrapping up the trip at the UC-San Diego Triton Invitational (February 7-8).

The team's schedule will not get easier as the team will return home to the East Coast to compete in the Elite Six Tournament, matching the Hawks against Harvard University and four of the other top teams from the 2008 Eastern Championship.  Hosted by Bucknell University, the tournament will mark the only time when six of the CWPA's elite teams will meet in the same pool until the Eastern Championship.

Following a lay-off, the Hawks will get back into the season on March 7 at the Marist College Challenge before squaring off at home against Brown University and Harvard University (March 14) in the first Northern Division games of the year.

Hartwick will then fly west for the second time as the team will compete in the San Diego State Tournament (March 21-22) before challenging defending national champion UCLA (March 26) in a single game.  The team will wrap-up its final games in the West on March 28 at the CSU-Bakersfield Tournament before flying East to wrap-up the CWPA regular season with a heavy road schedule.

On the heels of the second meeting against Brown (April 3), the Hawks will travel to Harvard University to face the host Crimson, Utica College and Connecticut College (April 4).  The team will conclude its' regular season slate on April 8 against 2008 MAAC champion Marist College in the third and final home game of the season for the Hawks.

The road to NCAAs will then travel through New London, Connecticut as Hartwick will seek to capture another Northern Division title when the division championship is decided on April 18-19 at Connecticut College.

If the Hawks capture the division title, finish second at the division championship or qualify as one of two at-large selections, the team will continue the season on April 24-26 back in Cambridge for the Eastern Championship.  The 2007 Eastern titleist, Hartwick will seek its second league title in three years as the CWPA champion earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship on May 8-10 at the University of Maryland.