Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Men's Lax Makes First Colorado Trip in 14 Years, Sunday Game to be Televised
4/13/2006 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 13, 2006
Bucknell Media Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell makes its first trip to Colorado in 14 years this weekend, as the Bison visit Air Force on Friday (5 p.m. Eastern) and No. 17 Denver on Sunday (3 p.m. Eastern). The last time Bucknell traveled to the Rocky Mountains was in April of 1992, and the Bison came away with two victories and set a team scoring record in a 26-9 win over Denver.
The Denver game will be televised live on Fox Sports Net-Rocky Mountain (DirecTV Channel 645, Dish Network Channel 414).
Bucknell is looking to bounce back from a pair of damaging Patriot League losses, at Lehigh (7-5) on Apr. 1 and at home against No. 20 Army (8-7) last Friday.
Air Force is red hot, winning 6 of 7 since an 0-4 start, and the only loss in that span was in overtime at Army. Denver, which hosts Notre Dame on Friday prior to the Bucknell game, defeated North Carolina en route to a 4-1 start, and recently the Pioneers have won two straight over Bellarmine and Quinnipiac.
Bucknell Recently
Since winning back-to-back overtime games against No. 1 Maryland and Holy Cross, the Bison have dropped three out of four, including a heartbreaking 8-7 loss to No. 20 Army last Friday.
Nailbiters
Seven of Bucknell's 10 games this season have been decided by either one or two goals. Of the team's six losses, all five have come by four goals or less, including five by two or less. The only one-sided games the Bison have played this season were victories over Mount St. Mary's (16-9) and Lafayette (11-5).
Last Time Out
Matt Scheel scored two goals, including the game-winner with 2:24 remaining, to lift No. 20 Army to an 8-7 victory over Bucknell last Friday night at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Nick Marks scored twice for the Bison, who lost to Army for the fifth straight time, all of them one-goal games. Adam Fullerton made a career-high 17 saves for Army, including three in the final 2:30 of the game to protect a one-goal lead. Typical of recent Bucknell-Army games, this one was punctuated by numerous momentum shifts. The Bison scored twice in the second quarter to take a 4-2 halftime lead, but during the halftime break a lightning storm struck, resulting in a delay of about an hour and 15 minutes. Following the extended break, Army scored twice in the third period to even things up, one goal coming from Scheel and another from faceoff man Tony Vozzolo, who won a draw cleanly and sprinted toward the cage for the tying tally. Jon Burton opened the fourth-quarter scoring to give Army a 5-4 lead, its first since the opening minutes. The Bison rallied, though, tying it on a nifty goal from Perry Menzies, who shook a defender, spun and scored with a hard bouncer with 13:02 left. Nearly two minutes later John Togneri came from behind the net to score and give Bucknell a 6-5 lead. Later in the period, Army regained the advantage by twice solving Bucknell's 10-man ride. First, goalie Matt Baran got caught out of the net on a restart, and John Walker fed Mike Obringer for a point-blank goal. With 6:42 left, Army defenseman Matt Luyster scored into an empty net from the midfield stripe to put the Black Knights back in front 7-6. Still, the Bison would not quit. With 4:30 to play, Menzies passed to Marks, who scored from the right side to tie the game for the fifth time. Bucknell won the ensuing faceoff, but with 2:30 to play Fullerton made a big save on Steve Case, then made a long outlet pass to Tory Sokol, who fed Scheel for the go-ahead goal with 2:24 left. Bucknell had two more good looks in the closing minutes, one from Menzies with 1:20 left and one from Case with 25 seconds to play, but Fullerton was up to the task both times. Bucknell outshot Army 42-24 and held a 31-23 edge in ground balls. Baran finished with six saves for the Bison, while Menzies had a career-high three points on a goal and two assists. Four of Bucknell's seven goals came from the freshman class, including the first career goal from Mike Thon.
The Bucknell-Air Force Series
Bucknell has won all four previous meetings with Air Force, with the last meeting coming in 1998. Only one of the four meetings has been played in Colorado Springs, that coming in 1992.
4/14/91 Lewisburg, Pa. 17-6 W 4/11/92 USAFA, Colo. 13-12 W 3/25/93 Lewisburg, Pa. 16-6 W 3/26/98 Lewisburg, Pa. 9-8 W
The Bucknell-Denver Series
Bucknell and Denver have met only once previously, that coming in 1992 in Denver. The Bison won that one 26-9, setting school records for goals in a game and quarter (11). In a bit of irony, Justin Zackey, who scored a Bucknell-record 138 goals in his career, did not score any of those 26 goals that day.
4/12/92 Denver, Colo. 26-9 W
Abou Jaoude, Baran Anchor Defense
Senior defenseman Michael Abou Jaoude and senior goalie Matt Baran make up the backbone of a Bison defense that has annually ranked among the national statistical leaders. Abou Jaoude, Bucknell's "shut-down" defender, is a returning First Team All-Patriot League selection. Baran last season led the Patriot League in save percentage (.588) and earned second team all-conference honors behind Navy's Matt Russell. This season the Bison defense is allowing only 7.0 goals per game and only 5.8 goals over the last five games.
Among the Best
The Bison currently rank 10th nationally in scoring defense (7.0 goals per game allowed), and Bucknell's defense has a chance to rank among the best in school history. The best Bucknell defenses to date:
1969 4.3 1970 4.7 1996 6.2 2001 6.2 2003 7.0 1968 7.2 2000 7.2 1973 7.5
Defense Hard at Work
The fact that Bucknell ranks among the top 10 nationally in scoring defense is particularly impressive considering that the Bison have spent a lot of time playing defense this season due to struggles in the faceoff area. Following the graduation of Ryan Goodman, a four-year starter at the X, coach Frank Fedorjaka this season has rotated four faceoff men -- three freshmen and a sophomore. The Bison have won only 39.1% of their draws this season, resulting in a time of possession that favors their opponents.
Stability in the Crease
Matt Baran is in his third season as Bucknell's starting goalie, and before him former Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Justin Sussman was a four-year starter, meaning that the Bison have had only two starting netminders in the last seven years. Baran is enjoying another solid season, with a goals-against average (6.69) that ranks ninth nationally.
Youth Movement
Bucknell has received significant contributions from its freshman class in all phases of the game thus far. Offensively, rookies Joe Mele (16-0-16) and John Togneri (10-5-15) are the team's first and second-ranked scorers. In fact, 36 of the team's 73 goals have come from freshmen, and 55 of 73 have come from either freshmen or sophomores. Only two players older than a sophomore -- juniors Kirk Klett and Steve Case -- have scored a goal for the Bison this season.
Bison Take Down No. 1 Maryland
The highlight of the season thus far for the Bison was a 7-6 double-overtime victory over then-No. 1 Maryland on March 14. It was the program's first-ever win over a No. 1 ranked team, and it came just over a year after an overtime victory over No. 2 Navy. Bucknell led the Terps for most of the first three quarters of the game, before Maryland made a furious rally from three goals down in the fourth period to tie the game. But Bison freshman Joe Mele scored his third goal of the day with nine seconds remaining in the second overtime period to give Bucknell the stunning win. Matt Baran made 14 saves in goal, including seven in the fourth quarter and overtime periods. The Terps, who had been 7-0 all-time against Bucknell, had just beaten three straight ranked teams in Georgetown, Duke and Towson before the Bison came to town.
Replacing a Legend
For the first time in the history of Bucknell Lacrosse, the program underwent a head coaching change this past offseason. Longtime Bucknell assistant coach Frank Fedorjaka was named the successor to the legendary Sid Jamieson. Fedorjaka served two stints as an assistant under Jamieson, totaling nine years. A former long-stick middie on three Divison III national championship teams at Hobart and an All-America wide receiver for the Statesmen football team, Fedorjaka compiled a 39-31 record in five years (1994-98) as head coach at Franklin & Marshall, and he was named USILA D-III Coach of the Year in 1995. He returned to Bucknell in 1999 -- he also worked with Jamieson in 1992-93 -- and primarly served as the team's defensive coordinator. Fedorjaka's wife, Kathy, is Bucknell's head women's basketball coach.
Mele Honored
Bison freshman attackman Joe Mele earned Patriot League Player of the Week honors on March 20. Mele was the hero of Bucknell's 7-6 double-overtime win over No. 1 Maryland. He scored three goals in the contest, including the game-winner in sudden death, as Bucknell beat the nation's No. 1 team for the first time in program history. Mele, who leads the team with 16 goals, was also named the Lewisburg Hotel Bison Athlete of the Week that week.
Tough Blows
The Bison were dealt a pair of significant health-related blows during the offseason. Senior Chris Carillo, a starting defenseman, is recovering well from recent open-heart surgery, but he was forced to end his playing career early. Junior attack Brian Gargan, one of the team's top offensive players, tore his ACL in a preseason practice and is out for the season. In the fourth game of the season, middie John Schlicher, who had just been promoted to the first line, broke his leg against Navy, and promising freshman Mike Thon has missed five games due to a shoulder injury.
Supporting Our Troops
The Bucknell men's lacrosse team is helping to make Bucknell the first university in the nation to foster a U.S. military unit in Iraq through the non-profit group America Supporting Americans (ASA). The team is working with ASA to reach out to and foster a unit of about 100 men and women in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, Co. A, 506th Regiment. The Fort Campbell, Ky., based unit was deployed to Iraq in November and expects to remain in Iraq for at least one year. As a fostering group, the students have been soliciting appropriate food, toiletry and entertainment items, and other goods that the troops can use and enjoy. Senior Chris Carillo is spearheading the campus effort. The first shipment of collected goods were on their way from the Lewisburg campus to Iraq last month, and that is just one part of fostering the military unit. In addition, Carillo has been in contact with the unit commander to get a list of names and other information about unit members so that students can keep in contact with them.
Bison Migration
Bucknell's 35-man roster is represented by players from 14 different states, led by New York with nine and Maryland with seven. The Bison have players from non-traditional lacrosse states such as Utah (Andrew Goodhand), Michigan (Paul Stansik), California (Michael Abou Jaoude), Illinois (Nick Marks) and New Hampshire (Alex Simoes).
Big Shoes to Fill
Bucknell's two starting freshmen attackmen Joe Mele and John Togneri are both off to outstanding starts, and they certainly had some big shoes to fill. Following last season the Bison graduated all-time leading scorer Chris Cara and dangerous crease attackman Patrick Christensen. Cara was a Third Team All-American last season and he finished his career with a whopping 249 career points, including a national-best 78 in 2004 and 66 last spring. Christensen, who scored the overtime goal that beat Navy last season, scored 92 career goals, sixth on Bucknell's career list.
Bison Tracks
Bucknell has done an excellent job clearing the ball through 10 games ... the Bison are clearing at a 80.0% success rate, while holding opponents to 67.3% ... the EMO unit is converting at a 25.0% clip (9 of 36) ... opponents have scored on 29.3% (12 of 41) of man-up chances ... Joe Mele was held without a point against Army for only the second time this season ... his other scoreless game came against Navy ... rookie Mike Thon scored his first career goal in the Army game ... Mele, Nick Marks and Kirk Klett are tied for the team lead with four multi-goal games ... goalie Matt Baran is the team's ground ball leader with 32.
