Bucknell University Athletics
The Sojka Psycho
11/15/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 15, 2006
By Todd Merriett, Bucknell Athletic Communications
Members of the Bucknell men's soccer team pile into the massive hunk of metal on their way to yet another road game in the Patriot League. It starts off just like any other road trip, but this one is different. Instead of traveling to a familiar outpost like Worcester, Mass., or Hamilton, N.Y., the destination is Cedar Falls, Iowa. And, instead of riding a bus, two cars were the preferred mode of transportation.
Last winter eight members of Bucknell's men's soccer team, led by then-sophomore Joey Kuterbach, made the grueling 14-hour overnight trek to the Bison men's basketball squad's ESPN BracketBuster game at Northern Iowa. Sitting in front of Bucknell President Dr. Brian C. Mitchell, Kuterbach and Co. painted their chests to spell B-U-C-K-N-E-L-L and shouted themselves hoarse as they cheered on their classmates in a thrilling double-overtime contest.
After the disappointing 65-61 loss the men's soccer players did not have the luxury of flying back to their Lewisburg dorm rooms on a chartered flight like the basketball squad. Instead, they had to complete another 14-hour caravan, with a brief stop near Chicago at the home of Justin Wolf.
This small assortment of people is a fraction of a group called the "Sojka Psychos", which can be attributed to Kuterbach's foresight and love affair with Bucknell Athletics. The Kingwood, Texas, native was the leader of his successful high school basketball team's fan group and wanted to continue that when he arrived at Bucknell as a freshman.
"In high school we had a good team and supportive fans and I wanted to carry that into college," remembers Kuterbach. "I was always determined to be loud and supportive whether I had help or not."
Toward the beginning of his freshman year Kuterbach was nearly flying solo in the stands as Sojka Pavilion had not yet become the place to be. Instead of the arena being filled to the rafters with a sea of orange as has become the norm, it took nearly four games for as many people to file into Sojka as did on one night against Villanova last December.
Things started to change in early January 2005 when the Bison hosted perennial Patriot League power Holy Cross and a then-Bucknell record crowd of 3,897 crammed its way into Sojka Pavilion. The crowd numbers continued to swell after that, and Kuterbach was partly to thank.
The goalkeeper on the men's soccer team had worked with Bucknell's marketing and promotions assistant Ryan Burd in hopes of creating a raucous student cheering section. Due to limited preparation time the Sojka Psychos remained a small group of less than 50 students cheering on the Bison basketball team from the stands, although overall student support and attendance began to rise.
With an entire offseason to prepare, Kuterbach worked with Burd leading up to the 2005-06 campaign to make sure the Sojka Psychos would be a much bigger part of the crowds and indeed they were. They became an official group on campus and other fans knew they could count on every seat behind both baskets being filled by loud students in bright orange shirts, especially after a record turnout of more than 4,400 fans for a highly anticipated contest with No. 4 Villanova. Kuterbach continued his leadership role as he manned a walkie talkie that eased communication between opposite sides of the arena allowing intimidating cheers such as the familiar 'Ray Bucknell where one side of Sojka Pavilion shouts "'Ray" and the other follows with "Bucknell".
This year should be even better for the Sojka Psychos. In fact, a larger group, called the "Bison Backers" was formed to encourage students to root on all Bucknell teams. The Sojka Psychos remain a subset of the Bison Backers, which enlists more than 700 members. With regular meetings and input from students to the Bucknell athletic department, the Bison Backers should be more prepared than ever to root on the basketball team. Additionally, they receive some advantages in securing an always-scarce ticket for basketball games. Kuterbach has been kept in the loop on events and decisions, but has not been as heavily involved as in the past due to his demanding soccer itinerary.
"As soon as soccer season ends, basketball will become my main focus," smiles Kuterbach, who is also a regular in the crowd at Graham Field for field hockey, Varsity Soccer Field for women's soccer and Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium for football games.
What is most amazing is Kuterbach's ability to feverishly cheer on his fellow student-athletes while balancing his own sport and a demanding major like chemical engineering. Plus, Kuterbach is not half-bad at his craft and probably deserves classmates to follow his lead and create a cheering section for him.
In his first full year as a starter at goalkeeper this fall, Kuterbach flew under the radar as he was left off the All-Patriot League teams despite registering six shutouts and more than 90 saves while playing every second in net during the regular season. However, he quickly vaulted into the spotlight the first weekend in November when he led the fourth-seeded Bison to their first-ever Patriot League title. Named the Patriot League Tournament MVP, Kuterbach helped Bucknell upset the top two seeds in the tournament on penalty kicks. He made a pair of saves as the Bison defeated No. 14 Lehigh 4-1 on penalty kicks in the semifinal, while he stopped two more penalty kicks in the championship opposite Lafayette to preserve a 4-3 shootout win. He continued his postseason heroics with yet another shutout in the first round of NCAA play as the Bison upended George Mason 1-0 in overtime.
Facing those penalty shots in the Patriot League Tournament, a confident Kuterbach used a unique style where he flails his arms making it appear as though he has a multiple pairs of extremities to distract the opposition. While he mentioned it does feel "stupid" to look that bizarre in front of a large crowd, it was very effective as Bucknell earned its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 30 years.
Kuterbach has had quite a ride to the excitement he has experienced in recent weeks with Bucknell waiting until the last day of the regular season to clinch a postseason berth to the Cinderella run through the Patriot League Tournament to the NCAA Tournament match at George Mason.
One of eighth-year head coach Brendan Nash's prize recruits in the current junior class, Kuterbach's freshman year coincided with Adam Edwards' junior campaign. One of the best goalies in Bison history and the Patriot League's all-time leader in shutouts, Edwards was coming off a season in which he tallied eight shutouts and yielded just 22 goals as Bucknell won the Patriot League regular season title. Earning playing time was going to be a tall order for Kuterbach, but he actually broke into the starting lineup and earned a total of eight starts in his rookie year.
"I was shocked when Coach Nash told me I would be the starting goalie before we played nationally ranked Penn State," recalls Kuterbach. "There were some nerves, but the chance to face the best competition is why I came to Bucknell."
With Edwards' sub-par year behind him, he beat Kuterbach out for the starting job last fall. Kuterbach was relegated to the bench as he saw action in just four contests and did not draw any starts.
With Edwards gone to graduation this year, Kuterbach knew the job was his to win, and that he did.
"I have relished getting the chance to play this year," says Kuterbach, who has played every second in goal this season. "Adam was the starter last year and I didn't have a problem with that since he showed he was the better goalkeeper. I understood Adam was the starter and my role was to be his backup."
Much like his career, which had a high in 2004, a lower point in 2005 and another high in 2006, this year has been like a roller coaster ride for both Kuterbach and the Bison. Kuterbach went through the first 14 matches of the season allowing just nine goals and racking up five shutouts as Bucknell sprinted to a 7-3-4 record, which featured an eight-game unbeaten streak, the third-longest in the 77-year history of the program. However, a four-match road stretch, which included contests at national powers Penn State and Maryland, produced four consecutive losses for the Bison. During that stretch Kuterbach gave up 11 goals to boost his goals-against average from 0.60 to 1.06.
A 4-1 loss late in October to then-No. 7 Maryland dropped Bucknell's record to .500 for the first time since the third game of the season. Postseason goals looked bleak for the Bison heading into their final match of the regular season against Navy. They needed to defeat the Mids and hope for Army to upend American. Luckily, Kuterbach and his teammates returned to form and shut out Navy 2-0. The waiting then started as the Army-American match was not scheduled to end until an hour after the conclusion of Bucknell's game.
"After the (Navy) game ended we got back in the locker room and started playing the waiting game," describes Kuterbach. "It was very nerve-racking, but we were all extremely excited after hearing the result."
That Navy match began the roller coaster ascent again and it only continued in the Patriot League and NCAA Tournaments.
Of course, with the success of Kuterbach's squad, he missed the most-anticipated home basketball game of the year on Nov. 14 against Wake Forest. The Bison dropped the 86-83 overtime decision to the Demon Deacons of the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference without their main fan in the stands. Maybe the result would have been different had Kuterbach been there to lead the cheers. Something says Kuterbach does not mind he missed that game. He has more important things on his plate, namely another ACC team in No. 4 Virginia Wednesday night.
