Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Soccer Hosts Holy Cross Saturday in Program's 1,000th Game
10/9/2009 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 9, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Fresh off its most productive offensive night in more than a year, the 8-3 Bucknell men's soccer team brings a three-game winning streak into Saturday's key Patriot League home showdown with Holy Cross. Game time is 1 p.m. at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. It will also be a major milestone match, as it is the 1,000th contest in Bucknell men's soccer history.
The Bison got on the board in Patriot League play last Saturday night, edging Navy 1-0 on the road to even their conference record at 1-1. Bucknell backed up that performance with a 5-1 rout of St. Peter's on Tuesday at home, buoyed by two goals each from scoring machine Conor O'Brien and up-and-coming freshman Brendan Burgdorf. It was the team's largest scoring output since that wild 5-4 win at Canisius in the second game of the 2008 season, and it was Bucknell's largest margin of victory since a 5-1 win over Niagara in 2002.
Holy Cross is also coming off its first league win of the season, a 2-0 verdict over defending champion Colgate on Saturday. The Crusaders then lost 2-0 at No. 8 Harvard on Wednesday to fall to 3-7 on the season.
This will be a revenge game for the Bison, who fell 2-1 in overtime at Holy Cross last season.
Through the first two weeks of Patriot League play, Lafayette and American are atop the standings at 2-0, while Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lehigh and Navy are all 1-1. Colgate and Army are both 0-2.
On Sunday, the Bison will be hosting a free youth clinic from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the grass fields adjacent to Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. The clinic is geared toward youth players, who will get skill instruction from the Bucknell team and coaching staff, as well as participate in small-sided games coached by the Bison players. Immediately following the clinic, participants are invited to stick around and cheer on the Bucknell women's soccer team against Lehigh.
BISON MEN'S SOCCER NOTEBOOK
Coverage
- Click HERE to follow Bucknell-Holy Cross live stats via GameTracker.
Bucknell vs. Holy Cross Series Notes
- Bucknell is 7-9-3 all-time against Holy Cross in a series that dates back to 1990, the first year of Patriot League play.
- The Bison are 2-1-3 in the last six meetings, including last year's 2-1 overtime loss in Worcester. In that game, Anthony Ferraro scored on a breakaway just 9:42 into the match to stake the Bison to a 1-0 lead. Bucknell had a goal called back by a foul in the third minute of the second half, and it would remain a 1-0 game all the way into the 80th minute, when Holy Cross finally got one past Bison keeper Tommy Caso. The Crusaders played a ball into the box and Caso came out to punch it away, but Philippe Candido headed the rebound back in to tie the game. Then with less than three minutes left in double overtime, Kyle Miller scored the game-winner off an Andreas Andrews assist. That game was the fourth in a school-record run of five straight overtime contests for Bucknell.
- In the last meeting in Lewisburg in 2007, both teams scored on corner kicks in a game that finished in a 1-1 tie. Ross Liberati's first career goal came on a header in the 48th minute, but Holy Cross tied it when Jon Werth bent his corner kick directly into the goal in the 62nd minute. The Crusaders picked up a red card with 22 minutes remaining, but despite some close calls, the Bison could not go ahead with the extra man and settled for the draw.
- The Bison are 3-4-2 against Holy Cross at home.
- Seven of the last nine Bucknell-Holy Cross meetings have gone to overtime, including each of the last two, and five in a row from 2000-04.
About Holy Cross
- The Crusaders started the year 0-3, picked up a 2-1 road win at Northeastern, then dropped three more to fall to 1-6. The last of those losses was a 1-0 overtime decision against Lafayette in their Patriot League opener. After that, Holy Cross won back-to-back games against Albany (1-0) and Colgate (2-0) before falling 2-0 at No. 8 Harvard on Wednesday.
- In the win over Colgate on Saturday, the Crusaders stunned the Raiders with two goals in the first 4:44 of the game. Shane Regan scored just 2:14 in, then Jordan Michael knocked in a rebound just 2:30 later. Colgate held an 18-7 shot advantage, but Thomas Booth made four saves en route to the clean sheet.
- Holy Cross has been outscored 11-6 in 10 games this season. Regan leads teh team with two goals, while Michael, Jon Werth, Kyle Miller and Tony Rosales have one each.
- Booth has played all 937 minutes in goal and has 48 saves with 11 goals against so far.
- Holy Cross is playing under the direction of a new head coach in 2009. Ted Priestly took over this season after posting a 131-76-28 record in 12 seasons as head coach at UMass-Lowell.
- In last year's Patriot League Tournament, Holy Cross defeated American in penalty kicks in the semifinals, then lost 2-1 to top-seeded Colgate in the championship match.
About the Bison
- Bucknell has played excellent soccer over the last week and a half, reeling off three straight wins over Binghamton (1-0), Navy (1-0) and St. Peter's (5-1).
- Conor O'Brien scored the lone goal in the home win over Binghamton, which avenged a 3-1 loss to the Bearcats last season. O'Brien alertly tipped the ball away after the Binghamton keeper bobbled it, then scored into an empty net.
- Senior Sean King posted his first career goal in the first half against Navy, and that held up as the game-winner. O'Brien and Ryan Sappington assisted on the goal in the 28th minute. Tommy Caso earned his fourth shutout of the year as the Bison defense allowed only one shot on goal.
- On Wednesday, O'Brien and Brendan Burgdorf scored two goals apiece and Luke Joyner tallied his first of the year in the 5-1 drubbing of St. Peter's. Bucknell led just 2-1 at intermission after the Peacocks scored on a penalty kick with 19 seconds left in the first half. But O'Brien restored the two-goal cushion with a pretty goal in the 51st minute. Bucknell used every healthy player in the game, and senior goalkeeper Will Byrne finished up the last 19 minutes in his first action of the year.
- Senior Alex Meisel, freshman Jermaine Jarrett and Caso all earned their first career points with assists against St. Peter's. Freshman CK Kumah, who had a goal earlier in the season, collected his first collegiate assist. All told, the Bison received two goals and three assists from freshmen and a goal and three assists from sophomores.
- Caso's assist came after a long boot well past the midfield stripe. Joyner flicked a header to Burgdorf, who buried the shot for Bucknell's fourth goal.
- Meisel's assist was a thing of beauty. He weaved through traffic to the left side of the box, drew the goalkeeper to the near post, then chipped a perfect pass right to the head of Joyner in the goal mouth.
- O'Brien scored two goals in a game for the second time this season and fourth time in his career. He now leads the Patriot League with nine goals, four assists and 22 points on the season. The nine goals are a new career high for O'Brien, and he moved into ninth place on Bucknell's career list with 24, surpassing Bucknell Hall of Famer Art Raynor, who had 23 from 1947-49. Next on the list is Bill Dahl, who had 27 goals from 1960-62.
- O'Brien is two points away from becoming only the eighth player in program history with 70 career points.
- At 8-3, the Bison are off to their best 11-game start since going 7-2-2 to open the 2006 season.
- Heading into its 1,000th game, Bucknell has an all-time record of 437-467-95.
Looking Ahead
- Bucknell steps away from Patriot League play next week, traveling to Marquette for a 2 p.m. (Central time) start on Tuesday afternoon. Bucknell has never before played Marquette in men's soccer. The Golden Eagles, who play at Seton Hall on Saturday, are 2-6-2 overall and 1-3-2 in the Big East this season.
