Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Lax Hosts No. 12 Navy in Big Early Season Patriot League Clash
2/27/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 27, 2009
The calendar still says February, but one of the biggest Patriot League games of the season takes place on Saturday as No. 12 Navy visits Bucknell at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium (1 p.m.). These two teams both have Patriot League championship and NCAA Tournament aspirations. The Bison are still in search of their first win of 2009, with both losses so far coming on the road to ranked teams: 11-7 at No. 6 Duke on Valentine's Day and 10-9 in overtime to No. 19 Ohio State last Saturday. The Midshipmen are 2-1, with wins over Ohio State and VMI and a 9-8 loss at No. 6 North Carolina last Friday. Austin Winter, a preseason Honorable Mention All-American by Inside Lacrosse, leads the Bison with eight points on two goals and six assists, while senior Joe Mele has a team-high six goals, five of them coming against Duke in the season opener. Tim Paul, whose overtime goal sank the Bison last season in Annapolis, has seven goals and three assists for 10 points to pace Navy.
With a Win over Navy, Bucknell Would ...
Tough Schedule to Open Season
Bucknell head coach Frank Fedorjaka put together a very demanding schedule this season, particularly right up front. Bucknell's first five games come against Duke, Ohio State, Navy, Hobart and Notre Dame, with only the Navy game at home. Hobart is the only one of those five not currently nationally ranked, with Notre Dame (8), Duke (10) and Navy (12) all ranked in the top 12.
Last Time Out
No. 19 Ohio State avenged a triple-overtime loss to Bucknell a year ago and defeated the Bison 10-9 in overtime on Saturday in Columbus at the indoor Woody Hayes Athletic Center. The Bison led 2-0 midway through the first quarter, then the Buckeyes rattled off six goals in a row to go up 6-2. Bucknell pulled within 6-5 by halftime, tied it early in the third quarter, then the two teams alternated goals the rest of the way. Trailing 9-8, freshman Charlie Streep scored his third goal of the day with 40 seconds left in regulation to send it to OT, but Joel Dalgarno won it for Ohio State with 1:22 left in the first sudden-death period.
More From Ohio State
Freshman Charlie Streep's hat trick marked his first three collegiate goals ... junior Austin Winter logged a goal and two assists ... senior Joe Mele, who had five goals against Duke, tallied one more against the Buckeyes ... sophomore Ryan Klipstein scored his first two goals of the year ... Bucknell's first two goals came just seven seconds apart ... Streep scored the first one, then Jake Clarke cleanly won the faceoff and fed Winter for goal No. 2 ... Clarke won 13 of 22 faceoffs and picked up a career-high eight ground balls ... senior Matt Antonelli came on in relief of starting goalie Nick Sciubba in the second quarter and finished with six saves and five goals against ... Bucknell outshot Ohio State 12-5 in the fourth quarter and 38-31 overall ... the Bison also won the ground ball (27-23) and faceoff (13-10) battles.
Bucknell vs. Navy Last Season
Playing just a few miles from his hometown, Bucknell backup goalie Matt Antonelli (Arnold, Md./Archbishop Spalding) turned in a brilliant, 11-save relief effort, but Tim Paul finally snuck one past him with 1:20 remaining in sudden-death overtime, leading eighth-ranked Navy to a 4-3 victory over No. 12 Bucknell in a hard-hitting defensive struggle last season at rainy Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. Austin Winter scored two goals for the Bison, who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end. Navy improved to 7-1 overall, 4-0 in the Patriot League, after claiming a tense affair in which neither team led by more than one goal all day. Antonelli was the story for the Bison. Inserted into the game four minutes into the second quarter after short-stick middie Geoff Leone beat starter Nick Sciubba with a fastbreak shot just inside the box to make it 2-1 Navy, Antonelli made nine saves in the second and third quarters to keep Bucknell's deficit at just one goal. The Bison finally tied it with 10:13 left in the fourth quarter when Winter scored off a feed from Ryan Klipstein on a two-man advantage. Navy also had to turn to its backup keeper when Matt Coughlin was injured on the Winter goal. Moments later, Tim Brandau had a good look in front but shot just over the crossbar behind Tommy Phelan. Navy finally solved Antonelli for the first time when Shane Durkin scored an unassisted tally from the left side of the cage, giving the Midshipmen a 3-2 lead with just 5:04 to play. The lead was short-lived, however, as Nick Marks followed a successful clear with a hard lefty shot that skipped past the feet of Phelan with 2:27 left. Antonelli made a dazzling save on Paul with about four seconds left and a follow-up shot went wide as the buzzer sounded. Navy won the overtime faceoff, but Antonelli's 11th save of the day appeared to give Bucknell a possession. But the Bison were hampered by turnovers against Navy's vaunted defense, and a long clearing pass that went awry gave the ball back to the Midshipmen. Navy worked the ball around before Nick Mirabito, the Mids' leading scorer who had been shut down all day in a terrific performance by the Bucknell defense, skipped a right-to-left pass over to Paul, who fired a low-to-high sidewinder past Antonelli for the game-winner.
The Bucknell-Navy Series
Navy leads the all-time series 5-2:
4/3/96 Annapolis, Md. Bucknell, 6-5 4/2/97 Annapolis, Md. Navy, 17-7 3/13/04 Annapolis, Md. Navy, 11-5 3/12/05 Lewisburg, Pa. Bucknell, 8-7 (OT) 3/11/06 San Diego, Calif. Navy, 9-5 3/25/07 Lewisburg, Pa. Navy, 6-3 3/19/08 Annapolis, Md. Navy, 4-3 (OT)
Oh, Brother
Two members of the Collett family are reserve defenseman in this game. Bucknell sophomore John Collett is in his first season as a starting defenseman, while older brother Mike, a senior for Navy, has yet to get into a game. Both siblings starred at Delbarton in New Jersey. Their father, Doug, is a 1982 Bucknell graduate and a former Bison football player.
At the X
Bucknell's Achilles heel in recent years has come in the faceoff department, but the Bison appear to be making significant strides in that area in 2009. Sophomore Jake Clarke won the starting faceoff job in preseason, and he has been terrific so far. Clarke won 8 of 14 draws against Duke and 13 of 22 against Ohio State, and he leads the team with 11 ground balls in two games. Sophomore Christian Tucker backs up Clarke. Navy has won only 36.2% of its faceoffs this season.
Veteran Attack Unit
The Bison are fortunate to have the same starting attack trio for the third consecutive season. Senior Joe Mele, now almost two full years removed from his ACL injury suffered in the Navy game at home, is healthy and looking sharp. He equaled his career-high with five goals in the Duke game and had one more against Ohio State. Junior Austin Winter is a perennial All-America and Patriot League Player of the Year candidate who already has eight points in two games this season. And junior Tim Brandau has been the least-decorated of the bunch but has 59 goals and 75 points to his credit already.
Two-Thirds of Close D Back
Bucknell has two very experienced close defensemen in seniors Billy Haire and Tom Izard. Haire is an Inside Lacrosse Preseason Honorable Mention All-American and the 2009 Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. He has been named to the All-Patriot League team in each of the last two seasons. Izard is in his second season with the starting unit and is coming off a strong junior year. Sophomore John Collett is the new man on that unit, as he has replaced four-year starter Evan Burns.
More Seniors in the Midfield
Bucknell is also senior-laden at the midfield and defensive midfield positions. Seniors Perry Menzies and Doug Buckley are stalwarts at offensive midfield, while freshman Charlie Streep and sophomores Mike Danylyshyn and Ryan Klipstein lend an infusion of youth. Menzies was a Second Team All-Patriot League pick last season, and he scored both the tying and winning goals in Bucknell's 8-7 win over Army in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. At short-stick defensive midfield, seniors Michael Cooke and John Togneri offer a veteran presence, and junior Scott Monfort has been a regular at long-stick d-middie for two seasons.
Buchmayr Back in Collegiate Lacrosse
Junior middie Brandon Buchmayr has joined the team in 2009, and his story is an inspiring one. Buchmayr was a starting midfielder for Hobart as a freshman in 2006, but he left the school after one season. After a short stint at Fairfield, he enrolled at Marymount College in Palos Verdes, Calif., a two-year school with no varsity athletics program. Buchmayr himself founded a club lacrosse program there, where he raised funds, coached the team (only a handful of players on the team had ever picked up a lacrosse stick before) and was the star player. After being named the school's student of the year in 2008, he enrolled at Bucknell and landed a spot on the team, where he is currently a member of the second midfield unit.
New Faces on the Sideline
Fourth-year head coach Frank Fedorjaka has two new assistant coaches at his side this season. Judd Lattimore came to Bucknell from North Carolina, where he replaced Pat Myers (who is now with the Tar Heels) as offensive coordinator. Lattimore has coached in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last six years: two with North Carolina, one with Penn, one with Delaware and two with Limestone College, a Division II powerhouse. Also new to the Bison sideline is Eric Genova, who came to Bucknell from Cornell. Genova works will all phases of the program, with an emphasis on the faceoff unit.
Patriot League Success
Bucknell is now 40-15 (.727) in the Patriot League since the start of the 2000 season. Bucknell won or shared PL titles in 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. The Bison won outright championships in 1996 and 2001. In 1996, despite a 12-0 overall record, they were passed over for an NCAA Tournament bid, but in 2001 Bucknell received its very first NCAA invitation.
Captains Named
Seniors Matt Antonelli, Billy Haire and Joe Mele were elected team co-captains prior to the season.
