March 27, 2009
Live video on Bison Vision 
Live stats on GameTracker 
Interview with senior goalie Nick Sciubba
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bison will try for their first 3-0 Patriot League start since 2005 when they host Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Game time is at noon, and the the contest will be aired live on a Bison Vision webcast via BucknellBison.com.
The game will also be be the front half of a Bucknell-Holy Cross lacrosse doubleheader on Saturday. The Bison and Crusaders women will meet at Graham Field at 3 p.m.
Bucknell slipped to 4-5 overall with a tough 8-7 loss to Towson on Tuesday night, while Holy Cross comes in at 1-7 overall and 0-3 in the league.
Scouting Holy Cross:
The Crusaders' lone win was a 7-3 decision over Hartford, but they played close games with both Army and Navy in league action. Holy Cross led Navy entering the fourth quarter before falling 10-5, and it lost by an 8-5 count to Army.
In their most recent outing, the Crusaders were edged 10-9 by Dartmouth. Holy Cross led that one 9-8 with five minutes to play, but the Big Green scored two goals in 13 seconds to pull ahead.
Six of Holy Cross' eight games have come at home, including its last four. The Crusaders have been outscored 38-16 in their two road games, albeit against tough competition in Duke and Colgate.
Kenny Minor (9-5-14) leads the team in points, while Chris Smirti (12-1-13) paces the Crusaders in the goals column. Top returning scorer Edison Parzanese had eight goals and five assists in the first three games of the season but has been out of the lineup ever since.
The Crusaders feature a very strong goalie in senior Jimmy Harrison. Harrison had 14 saves against the Bison last season, and he had a 22-save performance in a 7-6 win over Yale in 2008. This season he has a solid .574 save percentage and is averaging 12.6 goals per game.
Series Notes:
Bucknell is 18-0 all-time against Holy Cross, including an 8-0 mark at home.
The two teams first met in 1991, the first year of Patriot League competition.
Last season in Worcester, Mass., Nick Sciubba made 15 saves and the Bison received goals from seven different players in a 7-2 win over the Crusaders. Chris Palmer, Austin Winter and Mike Danylyshyn all had a goal and an assist in the victory.
Last Outing:
In a game that came right down to the final seconds, Towson prevailed 8-7 over the Bison on Tuesday night at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Goalie Rob Wheeler was the difference for the Tigers. He made six of his 14 saves in the fourth quarter, including three in the final 33 seconds of the game. Charlie Streep had a big night for the Bison with a career-high four goals. Bucknell saw its three-game winning streak come to an end with the loss. The Bison played that game without Austin Winter and Jake Clarke, who were both held out with minor injuries. Winter had scored nine points against Towson in a win last season, while Clarke currently ranks No. 1 in the Patriot League and No. 7 in the nation in faceoff percentage (.600).
Bison Bits:
Bucknell garnered two more Patriot League Players of the Week on Monday, and two first-time winners at that. Senior Matt Antonelli was named the Patriot League Goalie of the Week, while sophomore Jake Clarke was picked as the PL Defensive Player of the Week. Antonelli made five saves in a relief win over Denver on March 17, then he stopped 13 shots while allowing only two goals in a 9-2 win over Air Force at the Patriot Cup in Dallas. Clarke went 21-for-31 (.677) at the faceoff spot and had 13 ground balls in the two wins.
Senior Nick Sciubba had been the Patriot League Goalie of the Week in two of the previous three weeks before Antonelli earned the honor on Monday. It is the first time in league history that two different goalies from the same school have won the award in back-to-back weeks.
Charlie Streep's four goals against Towson give him a team-high 13 on the season. Perry Menzies and Joe Mele are right behind with 12 each.
All seven Bison goals against Towson came from midfielders, four by Streep and one each by Brandon Buchmayr, Doug Buckley and Chris Palmer.
Freshman Billy Eisenreich earned his first collegiate start in the Towson game with Winter sidelined. Eisenreich had an assist and three ground balls in the game.
Clarke is trying to break the school record for faceoff percentage in a season. He is currently at 60.0%, while the school record is 58.3% by Alex Rudis in 1999.
Winter has moved into fourth place on Bucknell's career assist chart with 75. Next on the list is Jon Romm (1987-90) with 82.
Next Up:
Bucknell faces another critical Patriot League test next Saturday when it travels to West Point, N.Y., to take on Army at noon at Michie Stadium. The Bison swept two games from the regular-season champion Black Knights last season, including an 8-7 decision at Michie Stadium in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. Army is 5-4 overall and 1-1 in the Patriot League so far this season.
