Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
vs. Army (PL Championship)
Patriot League Champs!!! Bucknell Women's Soccer Captures League Title with 3-1 Victory Over Army
11/6/2005 7:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 6, 2005
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Bucknell became the first No. 4 seed in history to win the Patriot League women's soccer championship, as the Bison scored three times in the second half to defeat the Black Knights of Army by a 3-1 margin in the Patriot League title game at Lehigh's Ulrich Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon.
Bucknell improved to 11-8-1 on the season and captured its second Patriot League championship, with the first coming back in the 2001 season. As conference champions, the Bison will receive an automatic bid into the 2005 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament.
The teams played a scoreless first half with few offensive opportunities allowed by either defense. Army threatened in the 13th minute, but Leigh Kosco missed on a crossing shot. Bucknell then narrowly missed going up 1-0 at the start of the second half, but the header attempt by sophomore Krista Lee Gentile (North Haledon, N.J./Immaculate Heart Academy) glanced off the crossbar.
Finally 60:10 into the match, freshman Nicole Marotta (Bridgewater, N.J/Mount St. Mary Academy) broke the 0-0 deadlock as she found the back of the Black Knights' goal off a corner kick from junior co-captain Shannon Curd (Westtown, N.Y./Minisink Valley). Curd was named Tournament MVP for her efforts in both of Bucknell's games on the weekend as she netted the lone Bison goal on Friday evening against Lehigh and had the deciding penalty kick in that match before assisting on Marotta's goal for her third point of the tournament.
Army managed to erase the one-goal deficit at 65:30 when Jessica Congemi lofted a shot over the head of Bucknell goalkeeper Katie Dry (Rochester, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy) for her first of the season.
This did not deter the Bison, however, as Gentile netted her 11th goal of the year on a cross from senior Caitlin Lanctot (Alameda, Calif./Bishop Odowd) in the 75th minute to give Bucknell back the lead at 2-1.
Senior Kerry Fitz-Patrick (Washington, D.C./Stone Ridge) went on to cement the victory for the Orange and Blue as she fired the ball from the left side off a feed from freshman Jennifer Dervarics (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) and into the Black Knights' goal.
"This was unbelievable, said Curd. "It was an all-out team effort and it feels amazing to come here and take out the higher seeds to win the championship."
"We played a heck of a game," Bucknell head coach Ben Landis said. "Give credit to Army who came back and scored after we put one in. They tied it, but we didn't give up. We came here to win it and we accomplished our goal."
Shots were even in the match at eight apiece while the Bison led in corner kicks, 4-3. Rebecca Garcia made two saves in net for Army while Dry registered two stops for Bucknell. Fouls were 7-5 against the Black Knights.
The Bison await their NCAA Tournament destiny, as the bracket will be announced on Monday, Nov. 7, on ESPNews at 5 p.m.
