Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Binghamton
Bucknell Men's Soccer Falls in Home Opener to Binghamton, 1-0
9/11/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 11, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Despite outshooting Binghamton 15-6, its largest margin over an opponent in nearly two years, the Bucknell men's soccer team could not prevail in its home opener as it lost by a 1-0 score to the Bearcats Tuesday afternoon at Varsity Soccer Field. Bucknell fell to 0-2-2 with the loss, while Binghamton improved to 5-0-0, having won all five of its matches by identical 1-0 scores.
Binghamton netted the lone goal of the contest at the 18:35 mark when Barry Neville took a free kick on the right side of the field outside of the box after a Bucknell foul. He found Liam Carson in front of the goal and the junior kicked it in past Bison goalie Joey Kuterbach (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood) for his first score of the season. Five different Binghamton players have now scored the Bearcats' five goals this year.
Even though it was unable to find the back of the net for the second consecutive game, Bucknell had its chances, a number of times off corner kicks. The best chance for the Bison in the first half came about seven minutes in when Nathan LaGrave (Okinawa, Japan/Kadena) headed the ball from a few feet in front of the goal. Binghamton goalie Jason Stenta made a diving save to the right and didn't quite corral it on his first attempt, but scooped it up while on the ground and before it crossed the line. It was the first of his six saves in the match.
In the second half, Justin Wolf (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) and Matt Hittson (Radnor, Pa./Radnor) had chances off corner kicks, but could not convert their headers from point-blank range. Wolf's went just wide right of the net about five minutes into the half, while Hittson's went just over the crossbar about 15 minutes into the stanza.
Twelve minutes after Hittson's header went high, freshman Ross Liberati (Warwick, Md./Tower Hill) had the second shot of his career knocked away by Stenta, who extended his right arm and barely tipped the shot away.
Bucknell controlled the ball much of the final 30 minutes as it piled up 11 of its 15 shots after halftime. In fact, the Bison held just a 4-3 shot advantage in the first half, but 11-3 over the final 45 minutes. By outshooting Binghamton by nine shots Bucknell equaled its largest margin over an opponent since holding an 18-8 shot advantage over La Salle on Sept. 14, 2005.
Kuterbach finished the contest, which was the first non-overtime match of the year for the Bison, with a pair of saves to boost his season total to 14. He has a solid 0.77 goals-against average this year.
The loss was the first in five all-time meetings against Binghamton for Bucknell. The Bison had been 3-0-1 against the Bearcats entering play. They still hold an 8-2 scoring advantage in the five meetings in the series.
Bucknell, which is slated to play five of its first six games on the road, will head to St. Peter's on Saturday, Sept. 15. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
