Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Navy
Bucknell Men's Soccer Shuts Out Navy 2-0, Qualifies for Patriot League Tournament
10/28/2006 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 28, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Behind goals from Nathan LaGrave (Okinawa, Japan/Kadena) and Mark Schmiegel (Toms River, N.J./Toms River North), the Bucknell men's soccer team defeated Navy 2-0 Saturday afternoon at Varsity Soccer Field. The Bison earned a spot in the Patriot League Tournament for the third time in four years by virtue of American's loss at Army Saturday coupled with their victory.
Bucknell will be the fourth seed in the four-team Patriot League Tournament field next weekend. The tournament will be held at Lehigh, which completed the regular season undefeated in league play and will be the opponent for the Bison in their semifinal match. The two semifinal games will take place Friday, Nov. 3, while the championship game will be contested Sunday, Nov. 5.
It didn't take long for Bucknell to jump out on top against Navy as LaGrave netted his team-high sixth goal of the season in the ninth minute. Joe Mellott (Highland, Md./Mount St. Joseph) and Corey Curnutte (Waterford, Mich./Detroit Country Day) were credited with assists on the goal.
The Bison nearly took a two-goal lead with 15 minutes left in the first half when a shot by Chris Hennings (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) hit the crossbar and barely missed bouncing in. Just a minute later Anthony Ferraro (West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional) also just missed a goal as he fired a shot that was deflected by defender Tom Shelly with goalkeeper Nolan Grebb still trying to retreat to his position.
Bucknell clearly outplayed Navy in the first half, outshooting it 8-2.
Despite strong defense by the Bison, who notched their sixth shutout of the season, the Mids nearly tied the score early in the second half when Doug DeVuono hit the left post with a shot that escaped the outstretched arms of Bucknell's Joey Kuterbach (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood). Kuterbach made two saves as he completed the regular season playing all 1790:00 minutes in goal for Bucknell.
Navy did not really threaten the rest of the game as the Bison added an insurance goal in the 82nd minute when Conor O'Brien (Mt. Sinai, N.Y./St. Anthony's) shuttled a pass to Mellott, who served the ball toward the goal. Schmiegel was stationed near the left post and headed the ball past Grebb for his first goal of the season.
With the victory, the Bison clinched at least a .500 record for the fourth time in five years for the first time since 1981-1985.
Bucknell will return to action Friday in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals against top-seeded Lehigh at 7:30 p.m.
