Bucknell Field Hockey Gears Up for Another Patriot League Tournament

Nov. 5, 2009

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Second-seeded Bucknell field hockey will go for its first Patriot League Tournament title and a chance to play at the NCAA Tournament when it travels to American University for a semifinal showdown with No. 3 Lafayette at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The Leopards (13-5, 3-2) have the same goals in addition to seeking revenge after the Bison (12-6, 4-1) knocked them out of the tournament a year ago. The winner of the matchup will face the winner of American and Lehigh at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday in Washington, D.C.

Live video of all tournament matchups can be found on Patriot League All-Access at patriotleague.com.

ABOUT THE BISON

Bucknell enters the tournament looking for its first five-game winning streak since 1999. The current Bison have defeated Georgetown (3-1), Colgate (4-2), Cornell (1-0 OT) and Holy Cross (3-0) during their current run. The 1999 squad claimed victories in six consecutive games midway through the season.
Bucknell's latest win, a 3-0 victory over Holy Cross at Graham Field, guaranteed the Bison a piece of the Patriot League regular-season title for the first time in program history. Bucknell tied with American in the league standings.
The Bison also enter the tournament seeded second for the first time since 2005. Bucknell was upset, 2-1, by Holy Cross in the semifinals that year.
Four Bison were named to All-Patriot League teams on Tuesday. Corinne Raczek (Ocean Township, N.J./Ocean Township) and Megan Krebs (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) were both first-team selections, while Morgan Kauffman (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor) and Christine Weiss (Bethlehem, Pa./Southern Lehigh) received second team honors. It was the eighth consecutive year that four Bucknell players earned league recognition.
Bucknell is 2-1 against other teams in the Patriot League Tournament after having defeated Lafayette (1-0) and Lehigh (4-2) but falling to American (3-0) in the regular season. Raczek scored the lone goal in the win over the Leopards, and Jessie Atieh (North Caldwell, N.J./West Essex) earned the shutout in the net. Against the Mountain Hawks, Tayler Siegrist (Madison, N.J./Madison) and Weiss each tallied goals, as did Kelly Bruvik (Skillman, N.J./Stuart Country Day) who scored twice.
The Bison have four players with 15 or more points through the end of the regular season. Kauffman leads the way with 20 points on five goals and 10 assists. The 10 helpers make the junior midfielder the number-one assists getter in the league.
Bruvik, Weiss and Austin Thomas (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) each have 15 points. Bruvik and Thomas each have seven goals, which ranks them among the league's top 10 in the category, and one assist. Weiss comes in at six goals and three assists. The points totals for Thomas and Weiss are huge improvements from their past production. Thomas entered the year with five career points, while Weiss began with three.
The Bison rank among the top 20 teams nationally in a trio of categories. Bucknell is eighth in penalty corners per game (9.33), 16th in goals against average (1.63) and tied for 20th in winning percentage (.667).
In the 2008 Patriot League Tournament, the Bison advanced to the championship game for the fourth time in program history. To do so, No. 3 Bucknell defeated No. 2 Lafayette 4-2. The Orange and Blue then went on to play the top-seeded American. First-half goals by Kauffman and Amanda Faust gave Bucknell the lead at halftime, but it was not enough to keep the Eagles at bay as the Bison fell 5-2. Kauffman and former teammates Faust and Trina Boyer were named to the All-Tournament Team.

ABOUT THE LEOPARDS

Lafayette enters the tournament as the third seed despite doing something no other Patriot League team has been able to pull off since 2002. It took two overtime periods, but the Leopards defeated American by a score of 2-1. Lafayette also won against Lehigh (3-0) this year, but lost to Bucknell (1-0).
The Leopards placed five players on all-league teams in Meghan Cicchi, Kelsey Andersen, Deanna DiCroce, Courtney Cabrey and Kelly Hilovsky. Andersen was also named the Goalkeeper of the Year.
DiCroces's first-team selection came on the heels of tallying 26 points on 12 goals and two assists during the season. DiCroce ranks second in the Patriot League in goals, shots and points, and leads the league in game-winning goals with six.
Voted the league's top goalkeeper, Andersen finished the regular season with a 13-5 record. She also posted a 1.09 goals against average, a .795 save percentage and eight shutouts, all of which rank first in the Patriot League.

ABOUT THE EAGLES

As the No. 1 seed again, American (9-8, 4-1) is hosting the Patriot League Tournament for the seventh consecutive year. The Eagles handed the Bison a tough loss early in the league schedule, then took a hard loss themselves at the hands of Lafayette. Just as it looked like American might have a weak spot, the squad bounced back with a convincing 8-1 win over Lehigh in the final weekend of regular-season action.
The Eagles led all teams with seven all-league selections and three major award winners this week. Anne-Meike de Wiljes, Anne van Erp and Christine Fingerhuth were first-team choices, while Tatum Dyer, Savannah Graybill, Kirsten Gebhart and Alyssa Poorman were named to the second team. De Wiljes earned Defensive Player of the Year, Fingerhuth was Offensive Player of the Year and Steve Jennings was Coach of the Year.
Graybill's and Fingerhuth's honors do not come as a surprise as both tallied more than 20 points during the season. Graybill led with 24 points on 11 goals and two assists, while Fingerhuth finished at 23 points on 10 goals and three assists. Both ranked in the top four in the league in points, goals and game winners. With 22 points, Melissa Casale also has made sure the Eagles are not lacking in offense.
Poorman may only have an 8-8 record coming into the tournament, but the goalkeeper has not been without some success. Her four shutouts and 1.42 goals against average are both second in the Patriot League.

ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS

Despite an 8-1 loss to American in its final game of the regular-season, Lehigh snuck into the Patriot League Tournament as the fourth seed. The Mountain Hawks have struggled this year against its tournament, also taking losses to both Bucknell (4-3) and Lafayette (3-0).
A trio of Mountain Hawks received all-league honors on Tuesday. Kimberly Eng, who was also named the Rookie of the Year, and Morgan Christopher earned first-team citations, while Taryn Hartzell was named to the second team.
Eng's Rookie of the Year selection was relatively simple. The freshman leads the Patriot League in shots, points and goals, and ranks second in game-winning goals and third in assists. Through her first year of competition, Eng has 34 points on 13 goals and eight assists.
Lilia Stefaniwsky has gotten the majority of the time in goal for Lehigh, finishing with a 5-6 record and a 2.79 goals against average. Her save percentage of .754 is second in the league, while her 92 saves is third.

UP NEXT
The winner of the Patriot League Championship will advance to an NCAA Tournament play-in game. The PL champion will host the winner of the Northeast Conference Tournament on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Bucknell University Athletics

Bucknell Field Hockey Gears Up for Another Patriot League Tournament

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