Bucknell University Athletics
High-Scoring Hennings, Dervarics Earn Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week Honors
9/2/2008 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 2, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell men's and women's soccer teams both enjoyed offensive outbursts in matches over the weekend, and the primary protagonists on each squad were recognized with BRINE Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week Honors on Monday. Junior Chris Hennings (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), who tied Bucknell and Patriot League records with four goals in a win over Canisius, and Jennifer Dervarics (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus), who had the tying and go-ahead goals in the women's team's big road win over Maryland, were both honored.
On Friday night in College Park, the Bison women trailed Maryland 1-0 into the second half, when Dervarics scored in the 55th and 68th minutes to give her team the lead for good. Chelsea McGorry added an insurance goal, and Bucknell held on for a 3-2 victory against a Terrapins side that came in listed second among "others receiving votes" in the national top-25 poll.
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Dervarics' two-goal night gave her four tallies in the team's first three goals of the season. She was kept off the board in Bucknell's 4-1 setback at Rutgers on Sunday, but Dervarics still leads the Patriot League in both goals and points. She now has 28 career goals, tying her for fifth on Bucknell's all-time list, and she is now alone in fifth place on the career points list with 69.
For Dervarics, the reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and the preseason choice to repeat that honor in 2008, multi-goal games are not unexpected. But for Hennings, who entered Sunday's outing at Canisius with one goal in 33 career matches, his four-goal explosion was truly magical.
After all, Hennings did not even start the game. He came on at the 20-minute mark in a scoreless tie, and not long after Anthony Ferraro scored to give Bucknell a 1-0 lead. Then in the 38th minute Hennings intercepted a pass and scored an unassisted goal to make it 2-0. After Canisius got on the board just 2:30 later, Hennings scored twice in succession, in the 50th and 77th minutes, both times beating defenders to score pretty goals.
Then disaster struck for the Bison. The Golden Griffins miraculously scored three times in five minutes to wipe out a 4-1 deficit. Now Bucknell found itself in a 4-4 tie and reeling defensively, but Hennings had one more strike left. Just 3:23 after Brendan Brody's equalizer, the Bison sent a ball into the box, and it ricocheted out to Hennings at the top of the box. The Man of the Match drilled it home from there, and Bucknell snuck out of Buffalo with a wild 5-4 victory.
All in one day, Hennings took over the Patriot League lead in goals and points. He became only the fifth player in the 79-year history of Bucknell men's soccer to net four goals in a game, and he was the first since Glenn Mars accomplished the feat in a 1969 game against Gettysburg. Art Raynor (1948 vs. Delaware), Lyman Ott (1961 vs. Muhlenburg) and Bill Dahl (1962 vs. Lafayette) are the only other Bison to ever record four goals in a match.
He is also just the third player in Patriot League history to score four goals in a game, joining Jon Cook of Colgate (2003) and Andrew Mittendorf of Lehigh (1998).
Both Bison teams are back in action with tough away matches this weekend. The men are schedule to face two Big Ten teams at the Penn State Classic. Bucknell will take on Ohio State on Friday at 5 p.m., and Penn State on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The latter game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
Meanwhile, the Bucknell women will also be in State College on Sunday, facing Penn State at 6 p.m., just after the Bucknell-PSU men's game. Now 2-1-1 on the season, the Bison women are ranked No. 10 in this week's NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Poll.
