Navy Receives No. 1 Seed for 2009 Southern Division Championship

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- No. 12-nationally ranked United States Naval Academy will start the postseason as the No. 1 seed for the 10-team Southern Division Championship based on a poll of the competing teams' head coaches.

Princeton University, Bucknell University, Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, Mercyhurst College, Gannon University, Washington & Jefferson College, Penn State University-Behrend College and Salem International University complete the field which will compete on November 6-8 at Bucknell University.

Competition will begin on Friday, November 6 as No. 7 seed Gannon will face No. 10 Salem International at 8:00 p.m. before No. 8 Washington & Jefferson College takes on No. 9 Penn State-Behrend.

First round action resumes at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 7 when No. 3 seed Bucknell squares off with No. 6 Mercyhurst.  No. 2 Princeton meets the winner of the Gannon-Salem International game at 10:15 a.m., before the Midshipmen battle the victor of the W&J-Penn State game at 11:30 a.m.  No. 5 George Washington and No. 4 Johns Hopkins conclude the first round competition with a 12:45 p.m. game.

Overall, the 17-game championship will determine the final order of finish in the division as the Top Four teams will qualify for the 2009 Eastern Championship against the four best teams from the Northern Division. 

The Eastern Championship is set for November 20-22 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. as the tournament/league championship will earn the Collegiate Water Polo Association's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Water Polo Championship on December 5-6 on the campus of Princeton University.