Valentina Rozas Becomes First Women’s Water Polo Player in Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame
On October 3, Valentina Rozas (Class of 2010) became the first women’s water polo player inducted into the Bucknell University Athletics Hall of Fame, breaking through a barrier that has stood for more than 40 years since the Hall’s establishment in 1979.
The historic recognition marks a landmark moment for a sport that didn’t exist at the NCAA level until 2000, finally giving women’s water polo its place among Bucknell’s 305 honored athletes, coaches, and contributors.
But Rozas’s path to this moment was anything but conventional. Her water polo career began not with passion for the sport, but with rejection. When she didn’t make her high school basketball team in Pico Rivera, California, the water polo coach approached the group of disappointed teens in a corner of the gym.
“He said, ‘Hey guys, you didn’t make it to the basketball team, but we accept everyone in water polo and all you need to do is work and try hard,’” Rozas recalled.
That coach became one of her biggest mentors, and what started as a backup plan transformed into something far greater.
The journey from East Los Angeles to Lewisburg, Pa. seemed unlikely for a first-generation college student from the city. But when Rozas visited Bucknell, she found something that transcended athletics.
“The people,” she said simply when asked what drew her to Bucknell. “Coming here and getting to meet the entire team —obviously the whole setting is very different from living in the city, the LA area —and how peaceful it is here and the attention there is to study. When I came here and saw the people, they were very warm and welcoming.”
Former Bucknell head coach, John Abdou, marveled at how she ended up at Bucknell: “It’s really, really special that somehow we made the connection from Pico Rivera, Calif. to Lewisburg, Pa.”
Once at Bucknell, Rozas didn’t just play water polo. She dominated. As an attacker utility, she combined athleticism with an exceptionally high water polo IQ that made her almost impossible to defend.
Current Bucknell head coach John McBride, who competed against Rozas during his time as an assistant at Brown, remembers the experience vividly. “Miserable,” he said flatly. “She was super tough. You had to game plan for her. She wasn’t someone that you could just leave, you had to know where she was at all times.”
Her four year career produced numbers that still stand among Bucknell’s best: 232 goals (second all-time), 99 assists, 331 career points, and 293 ejections drawn. She earned three All-America selections and four consecutive All-CWPA honors. As a sophomore in 2008, she was named CWPA Most Valuable Player and Southern Division Player of the Year. Her career-high 73 goals in 2009 rank third-most in a single season in program history.
But the defining moment came in 2010. As a senior, Rozas led the Bison to their first-ever CWPA Southern Division championship and a school-record 26 wins. “That moment is what made all of this happen,” Abdou said.
Similarly, McBride, reflecting on her impact, noted: “She was a part of the only team that won any championship and she was the leader of that team.”
For her efforts, Rozas received the 2010 Bison Award, presented to senior athletes “who best exemplify the winning spirit of the University’s athletics program.”
What made Rozas so effective went beyond physical ability. McBride identified the characteristics that separated her from other talented players: “Her mental toughness, her grit, never lost her cool. Very stable. So smart, very high IQ player. It is rare to find those types that have such a high athletics IQ.” There was one more crucial element: “Loves the sport.”
That combination of skill and character propelled Rozas to become the only Bucknell women’s water polo player to compete professionally, playing in Greece after graduation.
Yet in conversation, Rozas hesitates when discussing her own accomplishments.
“I find myself doubting myself even knowing why I got inducted into the hall of fame,” she admitted. “I think it’s because of intangible things that you do outside of that that are more meaningful to people—push your teammates and motivate those around you.”
For McBride and the current program, Rozas’s induction carries profound significance.
“Women’s water polo wasn’t a sport until 2000, so to have that many years removed from the start of women’s NCAA water polo and nobody was considered good enough to be in the hall of fame — I find that hard to believe,” he said. “Hopefully what this nomination has done is opened the doors for women’s water polo and the great athletes they have.”
The recognition is particularly meaningful for a coach who has watched the sport evolve at Bucknell. McBride explained how the program has changed since Rozas’s era, when conference championships were held in early April and the accelerated timeline created intense pressure.
“Championships used to be at the beginning of April so the training regime was sped up. It took a certain level of toughness that this generation may not be used to,” he said. Rozas embodied that toughness.
When Rozas received news of her induction, the significance didn’t fully register until she saw her former teammates.
“We were all crying because we were getting to see our teammates together again.” The weight of the honor took time to sink in. “I didn’t know at the moment what it meant for me but as time has passed and since I have gotten to campus it has really set in. Oh yeah, this is a big deal.”
Rozas hopes her induction opens pathways for others.
“For our program itself, it makes me very hopeful that more of my teammates will get inducted. We have so many more successful women on this team, I can see any one of them inducted,” she said. “I hope for the rest of the girls here they see us and say, ‘Yeah, they are badass,’ and it lets future players look at us and know it’s their legacy and something they can be a part of.”
She also offers perspective to current players who question their value.
“The person that convinced me to come here was the second backup goalie on the team, and she didn’t convince me because she was the best or a starter, you know, blocking the most goals, but she convinced me because she was a good person,” Rozas explained. “To me, that is meaningful, and a lot of the players that came onto the team and contributed in meaningful ways were not the star players. It’s about finding your role and how you can contribute beyond goals and stats.”
It’s that understanding that sports can transform lives regardless of whether you’re a star, that makes her story resonate beyond statistics and accolades. McBride captured it best: “One of those kinds of people that got an opportunity because of sports and took advantage of it, and that’s what college is all about. I am proud of her.”
As people continue to see her name on the second floor of the Kenneth Langone Athletics and Recreation Center for years to come, her message is clear: opportunity can come from unexpected places, and what you do with it matters more than how you found it. As Rozas herself put it, reflecting on everything that started with a rejection and led to this moment: “Really, life is changing in a lot of ways.”
