Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Soccer in Postseason Again, Faces American Friday Night in PL Semifinals
11/5/2009 7:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 5, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- College soccer's second season has arrived for the Bucknell women's team, which has qualified for the Patriot League Tournament for the fifth year in a row. The Bison will travel to Colgate for Friday night's semifinal matchup with American. Top-seeded Colgate will host Army in the first semi at 5 p.m., with the Bison and Eagles to follow at approximately 7:30 p.m.
All tournament games will air live on Patriot League All-Access. A monthly All-Access pass can be purchased for $7.95. For more information, log onto www.patriotleague.org.
Friday's contest will pit the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year (Bucknell's Christa Matlack) against the PL Defensive Player of the Year (American's Friederike Engel).
Bucknell finished the regular season 10-7-1 overall and and 5-2 in Patriot League play. Colgate finished 5-1-1 in the league and edged both Bucknell and American by just one point for the No. 1 seed. American defeated Bucknell 3-1 in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 3, meaning the Eagles get to wear the home whites as the No. 2 seed on Friday.
Bucknell opened league play with the loss at American, then proceeded to win five straight matches by a combined 12-3 margin. A victory (or tie) over Colgate in the season finale last Saturday would have brought the tournament to Lewisburg, but the Raiders pulled out a 2-1 overtime win to steal the top spot from the Bison.
This will be Bucknell's 14th Patriot League Tournament appearance, and the Bison are 3-10-2 (1-1 in games decided in penalty kicks) in tournament play. Bucknell qualified for each of the first seven league tournaments between 1991-97 but lost in the opening round each time. The Bison finally broke through in 2001, defeating American and top-seeded Navy to capture their first conference title and NCAA Tournament bid.
Bucknell missed the playoffs in each of the next three years following the title, but since Ben Landis took over the program in 2005, the Bison have been a postseason regular. Playing as the No. 4 seed in 2005, the Orange & Blue were once again champions, upsetting top-seed Lehigh in penalty kicks in the semis, followed by a 3-1 win over Army in the championship.
The Bison themselves were victims of upsets in 2006 and 2007. After capturing regular-season titles, they suffered one goal-losses on their home field both seasons. In 2006 it was Colgate prevailing 2-1 in the semifinals, and a year later Bucknell dropped Army 2-1 on Molly Linhart's overtime goal, but then Navy pulled out a 1-0 win in the final.
Last year's tournament also ended in heartbreak, as the second-seeded Bison played Army to a scoreless draw, then the Black Knights won on penalties 5-4.
This will be Bucknell's sixth trip to Colgate for the Patriot League Tournament, and the Bison are looking for their first postseason win there.
Interestingly, the No. 1 seed has won only five of the previous 18 Patriot League Tournaments. All five of those home-field wins have come by Colgate, however.
BISON WOMEN'S SOCCER NOTEBOOK
Coverage
- Click HERE to watch the Bucknell-American game live via Patriot League All-Access.
- Live stats will be available on game night at gocolgateraiders.com.
Bucknell vs. American Series Notes
- Bucknell first played American when the Eagles joined the Patriot League in 2001, and since then the Bison have a 5-4-1 lead in the series.
- American won three of the first four meetings -- Bucknell's win in that span came in the 2001 Patriot League Tournament semifinals -- but the Bison are 4-1-1 in the last six head-to-head matchups.
- The two teams have met just once in the postseason, that a 2-1 Bison win in the 2001 semifinal at Navy. Bucknell went on to defeat Navy in the championship match for its first-ever conference title.
- Last season in Lewisburg, Bucknell celebrated Senior Day with a 2-1 win over American. Kelliann Doherty and Christa Matlack scored to put the Bison up 2-0, then Kelsey Brasher brought the Eagles within 2-1 in the 68th minute. The Bison outshot American 20-5, including 11-0 in the first half.
- Back on Oct. 3 in Washington, D.C., American snapped a five-game winless streak against Bucknell by defeating the Bison 3-1. Brasher and Patricia Bailey scored in the first half to stake AU to a 2-0 lead. Caitlin Holtz converted a penalty kick in the 57th minute to bring the Bison within 2-1, but Erin Stebbins answered with her own PK just eight minutes later to restore the Eagles' two-goal cushion. American had a 13-11 shot advantage.
About American
- Like Bucknell, American finished 5-2 in Patriot League play this season, with both losses coming on the road. The Eagles' two setbacks came at Colgate (1-0 2OT) and at Lehigh (2-0). Most recently, American clobbered Navy 3-0 at home on Saturday, outshooting the Mids 19-3 in the process.
- American has won the Patriot League Tournament once, in 2002.
- American outscored foes 21-17 en route to a 10-9-0 regular-season record.
- First Team All-Patriot League selection Kelsey Brasher leads the team in scoring with 17 points on seven goals and three assists.
- Junior defender Friederike Engel was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and was also a First Team All-Patriot League honoree. Senior defender Erin Koch and junior midfielder Brooke Sheppard were named to the second team.
- American head coach David Bucciero earned Patriot League Coach of the Year honors.
- Sheppard has a team-high six assists along with one goal.
- Arianna Efstathiou has made all but one start in goal for the Eagles. She has 70 saves and 16 goals against, for a 0.90 GAA.
About the Bison
- Bucknell has reached the 10-win mark for the fifth year in a row, and the Bison are assured of their fifth straight winning season.
- The Bison are 6-2-1 since Sept. 20.
- Lauren Stoller was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team last week. The senior defender has started every match over the last four years and now goes on to the national Academic All-America ballot.
- Bucknell led the league with five All-Patriot League selections. Christa Matlack earned first-team honors for the second year in a row, while Caitlin Holtz, Kathryn Sutton, Amanda Citron and Kelliann Doherty made the second team.
- Matlack also garnered Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year honors. She has eight goals in her last eight games and nine total this season. It is the third year in a row that the Bison have claimed the offensive player of the year, as Jennifer Dervarics won the honor in both 2007 and 2008.
- Doherty scored the team's lone goal in Saturday's 2-1 overtime loss at Colgate. She now has four goals on the season, second-most on the team behind Matlack. Three of Doherty's four goals this season -- and nine of her 14 career tallies -- have come against Patriot League opponents.
- Kathryn Sutton, who earned all-conference honors for the second time in her career, has 29 career wins. That is one shy of the program record of 30 wins, held by current assistant coach Katie Dry (2003-06), Laurie Purse (1999-2002) and Becky Snover (1993-96).
- Matlack has 25 career goals and needs one more to catch Katie McElligott (1996-2000) for seventh place on Bucknell's all-time list.
Looking Ahead
- Should the Bison prevail against American on Friday, they would advance to the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m.
