Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Columbia
Bucknell Women's Lax Falls One Goal Short in Season Finale
4/28/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 28, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Despite terrific six-point performances from Bonnie Buechel (South Orange, N.J./Columbia) and Carol Donohue (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon), the Bucknell women's lacrosse team came up one goal short in its 2009 season finale, falling to Columbia 15-14 on a toasty 88-degree day at Graham Field.
The Bison finish a successful campaign with a 9-9 record. The nine wins were the team's most in 11 years, and at 4-2 in the Patriot League they tied for second place in the standings and made it back to the postseason for the first time since 2006.
Both teams were wrapping up their seasons in this one, but both played with a playoff-like intensity in the sweltering conditions. Bucknell rallied back from both a four-goal deficit and a three-goal deficit in the second half, and they came within a fraction of yet another comeback but Donohue's would-be tying shot from close range with 20 seconds left caught the post and ricocheted away.
In her final collegiate contest, Buechel was nothing short of brilliant. She repeated her four-goal, two-assist performance from the Patriot League Tournament over the weekend, with three of those goals plus an assist coming during the wild second half. After drawing a double team in the final half-minute, she made a slick feed to Donohue on the doorstep, but she was robbed by an unlucky bounce.
Donohue finished with three goals and three assists, while Michelle Milot (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) and Julia Braun (Tomkins Cove, N.Y./North Rockland) added three goals apiece. For Columbia, Brittany Shannon logged four goals and two assists, while Holly Glynn had four goals and Lauren Olsen three.
The Lions used an 8-2 run to take a 9-5 lead with just a minute remaining in the first half. Bucknell got one back when Buechel fed Donohue with 30 seconds left before intermission. Then the Bison came out of the locker room on fire, scoring three times in the first 2:59 of the half. Milot got it started with a shot from a tough angle on the left side. Donohue came from behind the cage to make it 9-8, then Buechel passed to Braun just 32 seconds later to knot the game back up at 9-9.
But the Bison's momentum was short-lived. On the ensuing draw two Bucknell players got their sticks on the ball but could not gain possession, and just 41 seconds after Braun tied it, Olsen put the Lions right back ahead. Olsen scored again after goalie Emma Mintz made a tough save and then started a fastbreak with a long outlet pass, then Lizzie Lee ran through the defense for a third straight score to make it a 12-9 lead for the visitors.
The Bison were hardly done, however. Much like the second half of the Colgate game on Friday when she scored four second-half goals, Buechel tried to will her team back to victory. At the 24:26 mark she scored on a free-position shot. Just over a minute later the Bison turned the ball over, and Buechel chased down a Columbia player from behind at midfield and literally trail-checked the stick right out of her hands. She grabbed the ground ball, changed directions and ran all the way back to the crease for a spectacular goal that brought Bucknell within 12-11.
Gabrielle Geronimos answered for Columbia, but Braun and Buechel scored consecutive goals, the latter with 7:52 remaining, to tie it up again at 13-all.
But Bucknell's defensive struggles continued, as Holly Glynn took the ensuing draw deep into the box. She had the ball checked away momentarily, but picked up the ground ball right at the crease and popped it in just 41 seconds after the Buechel tally. Columbia needed only 44 more seconds to score again, with Frances Callaghan feeding Glynn on the doorstep for a 15-13 lead with 6:27 to play.
Columbia won the draw and tried to start a stall, but the Lions threw the ball away. Bucknell took advantage when Donohue bodied up a defender and sent a shot from 10 yards out on the right flank past Mintz to make it 15-14 with 4:29 left.
Braun earned the draw control and Bucknell looked to tie it once again, but Mintz made a save on Milot's tough-angle shot from the left side with 2:57 to play. Columbia cleared, and Alyssa DeLorenz (Garland, Texas/Plano East) made the toughest of her eight saves on Rachael Ryan's shot. Defender Ashley St. John (Wayne, Pa./Conestoga) got tangled with a Colgate player but appeared to have the rebound tracked down for the Bison, but a late whistle from all the way across the field resulted in a yellow card on St. John with 2:47 to play.
Bucknell's scrambling defense came up with another takeaway with 50 seconds remaining. The Bison cleared and put the ball in the hands of Buechel high on the right side. Buechel drove toward the goal, drew a sliding defender and feathered a pass in front to Donohue, but the shot struck iron and Amanda Goodhart corralled the ground ball for the Lions. Columbia called timeout, then cleared the ball upfield as time expired.
Buechel's four goals give her 44 on the season, the fourth-most in program history and the most since Michelle Manion had 45 in 1989. Buechel and Donohue (37-17-54) both had 54 points on the year, which is tied for fifth-most in a season at Bucknell.
Buechel finishes her career 129 goals, 42 assists and 171 points. She finishes No. 2 on Bucknell's all-time points list, just two behind Suzanne Raffaele, who had 173 from 2000-03. Her 129 goals rank third all-time and her 42 assists are tied for fifth-most. She will also graduate ranked first in career draw controls (164), second in caused turnovers (78) and fourth in ground balls (145).
Donohue upped her career point total to 163, which is just 10 shy of the school record, and she still has another season to play. She also moved into seventh place on the Bucknell career goals list with 95, and she is second all-time in assists with 68, which is only four away from the school record.
With her three goals on Tuesday, Braun reached the 30-goal plateau for the first time and she just missed the single-season ground ball record. She finished with a team-high 46, one more than Buechel and three short of the Bison record.
