Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Men's Lacrosse Squad to Open 2010 Season vs. Duke in Atlanta
12/2/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Dec. 2, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- A season-opening date with Duke in Atlanta, Ga., and a host of other nationally prominent programs dot Bucknell's 2010 men's lacrosse schedule. The Bison, who return three all-conference players among a large batch of key returnees from last year's squad that won the Patriot League regular-season title with a perfect 6-0 record, will face four teams that were ranked in the top 20 and three others who were receiving votes in the final Inside Lacrosse poll of the 2009 season.
Much like in recent years, Bucknell will need to be ready to go to work right from day one, as the opening month of the schedule is littered with difficult challenges. Following preseason scrimmages against North Carolina and Fairfield, the Bison open with Duke for the third straight year. While the last two meetings have been in Durham, this time the Bison will take on the reigning national semifinalists at McEachern High School in Powder Springs, Ga., outside Atlanta. Duke finished last season ranked No. 3 in the nation.
Bucknell's home opener will follow one week later on Feb. 20, as the Bison host Ohio State at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The last time these two teams played in Lewisburg, Bucknell won in triple overtime. Then the Buckeyes returned the favor with an OT win last season in Columbus. Following back-to-back trips to Maryland to face Towson and Navy -- the latter is the Patriot League opener and a rematch of the 2009 league championship game -- the Bison return home to face a Hobart squad that dealt them a 7-2 setback last year.
The Bison will also have conference home games against Lafayette, Army, Lehigh and Colgate, the last of those three coming on successive weekends to close the season. Conference road games take Bucknell to Navy and Holy Cross.
New to the schedule this season are Albany, which will host Bucknell on March 27, and first-year program Jacksonville, which will meet the Bison in Winston-Salem, N.C., for a game on March 16.
Bucknell will once again face Central Pennsylvania rival Penn State in 2010. This year's game will be played in State College on March 30.
The Patriot League Tournament will again be held on the campus of the highest-seeded team. The semifinal games will be held on Apr. 30, with the championship game on May 2. CBS College Sports will again provide live coverage of the entire tournament.
Bucknell earned the right to host the tournament last season after sweeping all six Patriot League foes in the regular season. After a thrilling 10-8 win over Army in the semifinals, the Bison dropped a heartbreaker 9-8 to Navy in the championship.
In 2010 the Bison will have to replace Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Billy Haire and Goalie of the Year Nick Sciubba, but they return an All-America attackman in Austin Winter, as well as the reigning PL Rookie of the Year in Charlie Streep. In fact, Bucknell welcomes back nine of its 12 multi-goal scorers from a year ago, along with first team all-league faceoff man Jake Clarke. But coach Frank Fedorjaka will have to overcome the loss of two starting close defensemen, two goalies who played significant minutes, and the bulk of the short-stick defensive midfield unit.
