Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Soccer Wins Patriot League Regular-Season Title, Will Host PL Tournament Next Week
11/7/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nov. 7, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - After walking off its home field disappointed Friday night after a double-overtime loss to Lehigh, the Bucknell men's soccer team's spirits were raised mightily on Saturday afternoon when Colgate knocked off second-place American, giving the Bison the Patriot League regular-season title and the right to host next week's conference tournament.
The semifinal matches will be held on Friday, Nov. 13. Bucknell will play in the first semifinal contest at 5 p.m. against an opponent yet to be determined. American and Lehigh will play in the other semi at 8 p.m. The championship game will be on Sunday, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. Ticket information will be available in the coming days.
Bucknell entered the final weekend of Patriot League play with a two-point lead on American. In the only game played Friday night, the Bison fell 2-1 in double overtime to Lehigh. That meant American could have passed Bucknell with a victory on its home field on Saturday, but Colgate pushed across a second-half goal to defeat the Eagles 1-0.
Bucknell finished with 15 points, while American and Lehigh have 13. Colgate now has 12 points and temporarily sits in fourth place, but Holy Cross and Lafayette both play later on Saturday and could tie Colgate with victories.
If there is a three-way tie for fourth between Colgate, Holy Cross and Lafayette, then Lafayette wins the tiebreaker and gets in as the No. 4 seed. A two-way tie between Holy Cross and Colgate goes to Holy Cross, and a two-way tie between Lafayette and Colgate goes to Colgate.
*Update, 10:10 p.m. Saturday -- Holy Cross defeated Army 2-1 and Lafayette beat Navy 3-0 to create the three-way tie scenario for fourth place. Lafayette wins that tiebreaker and will play Bucknell in the first round of the tournament. It will be a rematch of the Oct. 30 game at Bucknell, won by the Bison 1-0.*
This will be the third time Bucknell has hosted the Patriot League Men's Soccer Tournament. The other two were in 1990 and 2003, and in both of those years the Bison were upset in the first round. They will be looking to reverse that trend next week.
