Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Soccer Opens 2009 Campaign Friday at James Madison Tourney
8/25/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Aug. 25, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell women's soccer team opens its 20th season of varsity competition this Friday against Towson at the James Madison/Comfort Inn Harrisonburg Invitational. The Bison will play the Tigers at 5 p.m. Friday evening, then they will face off against 25th-ranked James Madison at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
After finishing 11-6-3 overall and 5-2-0 in the Patriot League last season, coach Ben Landis' squad returns all but two starters and has been picked third in the Patriot League preseason poll. Junior forward Christa Matlack was selected as the Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year.
While the Bison will be making their 2009 season debut on Friday (although they did defeat Bloomsburg 1-0 in a scrimmage in wet conditions last week), Towson and James Madison already have a game under their belts. The Tigers fell 2-1 at George Washington on Tuesday, allowing two goals in the first four minutes of the second half before getting on the board on Danielle Rosanova's penalty kick in the 78th minute. Meanwhile James Madison, which went 14-7-2 and made it to the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 last season, dropped a 3-0 decision to Richmond on Saturday. The 25th-ranked Dukes outshot the Spiders 17-9 but were stunned at home.
Bucknell has played Towson six times previously, with each team winning three. The Bison have won the last two head-to-head matchups with the Tigers, 1-0 in Maryland in 2003 and 2-1 at home in 2004. The teams first met in 1996. Bucknell and James Madison have never before met in women's soccer.
Below is a complete 2009 season outlook:
In four years under head coach Ben Landis, the Bucknell women's soccer program has established itself as an annual contender for the Patriot League championship and regional rankings consideration. The Bison captured the Patriot League Tournament title and went to the NCAA Tournament in Landis' first year in 2005, they earned regular-season crowns in both 2006 and 2007, and last season Bucknell finished second in the league standings and lost a heartbreaker to Army in penalty kicks in the tournament semifinals.
While the league competition is strong, playing in the Patriot League Tournament serves as a minimum goal for the Bison, who enter the 2009 campaign with higher aspirations after graduating only three players from last year's side that produced double-digits wins for the fourth straight season.
“We are confident that we are one of the top programs in our league in terms of what we do, how we prepare ourselves every day, and how we carry ourselves on the field and in the classroom,” said Landis. “Only one outcome would be truly satisfying, and that is to raise the trophy. Last year's tournament experience against Army, as hard as that was to take, I think helped our younger players understand what it takes to win.”
While the Bison lost only three seniors from a year ago, all were key cogs. Jennifer Dervarics was the league's premier sniper. She led the conference in scoring two years in a row and was the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year in both 2007 and 2008. An all-region selection as well, Dervarics graduated ranked third on Bucknell's all-time lists for career goals (36), assists (19) and points (91). Nicole Marotta was a four-year starter, playing her first three seasons in the back before moving up to center midfield as a senior. A three-time First Team All-Patriot Leaguer, Marotta was a defensive anchor for the Bison and was also one of the league's best in the air. Also gone is Kelly Boswell, a “glue” type player who was the team's first reserve last season. Those three combined for 17 of Bucknell's 36 goals a year ago.
Even though each of those losses will be difficult to replace, Landis welcomes back plenty of talent and hopes that three key players who were slowed by injury last season – Molly Linhart, Chelsea Brinkman and Megan DeGennaro – return to their proper fitness levels.
Offensively, Bucknell has had terrific success “passing the torch” from one prolific scorer to the next. Four different Bison forwards have earned First Team All-Patriot League honors in each of Landis' four seasons. Jennifer Margolis earned the distinction in 2005, then she gave way to Krista Lee Gentile a year later. Gentile's graduation opened the door for Dervarics to stake her claim as the league's top scorer, and now it is junior Christa Matlack's turn.
Matlack earned her first all-league citation last season as a sophomore, producing eight goals and four assists despite missing the first three games of the season with an injury. A tall, athletic player with explosive speed, Matlack also showed signs of becoming a clutch scorer in big moments, something a team with championship aspirations requires. She tallied four game-winning goals last season, including one against Temple with 29 seconds to play and another against Marist a week later in the 83rd minute.
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“We have been fortunate to have some great offensive players here in recent years, but we do not revolve our program around the star scorers,” Landis offered. “We play a system that we feel will make us successful, and players such as Krista Lee and J.D. (Dervarics) and now Christa have all been able to thrive in that system thanks to their hard work.”
Despite Matlack's impressive credentials, Landis feels that entering the season the team is probably thinnest depth-wise at forward. This spring, she was primarily paired up front with DeGennaro, the rising sophomore who was limited by injury last season, and junior Kelliann Doherty, a smart player who has been playing center midfield at Bucknell after being a forward throughout most of her prep career. Doherty had six goals and three assists for 15 points en route to All-Patriot League honors as a freshman, and last season she added four more goals, all of them coming against league foes. A native Californian, DeGennaro appeared in 12 games as a reserve in 2008, scoring her first career goal late in the year against Lafayette.
The Bison also return both of their starting outside midfielders in senior Chelsea McGorry and junior Brooke Stokes. McGorry has an excellent cross, leading to eight career assists, while Stokes has shown a knack for creating scoring chances and after two seasons worth of significant playing time is looking to become a consistent finisher this fall.
Linhart combined for six goals and five assists in her first two collegiate campaigns, with one of those goals coming in overtime in a Patriot League Tournament win over Army in 2007. Last season she sat out the first nine matches of the year with a leg injury, and even when she was cleared to return she struggled to become the consistently dangerous threat she was in previous years. A team co-captain, Linhart spent the spring traveling abroad in the Semester at Sea program, and Landis feels she will be rested and ready to go in 2009.
Brinkman is responding well to offseason knee surgery, and Landis hopes that she, too, will be back in the mix in the middle of the field this fall. Her knee woes limited her impact last year, but when healthy she has one of the strongest legs on the team. A two-time ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District pick, Brinkman has a lethal free kick and is a threat to score from long range.
Once again this season Bucknell should be very strong in the back, with First Team All-Patriot League pick Caitlin Holtz joining stalwart co-captains Amanda Citron and Lauren Stoller, two-year starting back Kelsey Johnson, and one of the conference's premier goalkeepers in senior Kathryn Sutton.
That core group combined to post a school-record eight shutouts last season, and Sutton has now presided over 12 career clean sheets, one shy of the program record. Sutton has been the everyday starting keeper for the last two seasons and is expected to retain that mantle again in 2009. Last year's 11 wins, 1.06 goals-against average and .798 save percentage were all personal bests.
Holtz, a rising junior, is so much more than just a solid backliner. Perhaps the most technical player on the team according to Landis, she is adept at carrying the ball out of trouble and is a strong enough playmaker that she is often given the liberty to move forward. She handles all of the team's corner kicks and most of the long free kicks, and the Bison's strength on those set pieces allowed Holtz to lead the Patriot League with eight assists, which tied for the second-most in a season at Bucknell.
Citron is another member of the junior class coming off a wonderful 2008 campaign. She started all 20 games last season and 17 of 20 as a freshman in 2007, and Landis feels that Citron has really come into her own as a defender. In last season's Patriot League Tournament contest against Army – a match that was scoreless for 110 minutes – she was one of the best players on the field for either side. She repeated that performance in a spring game against Penn State, and Landis feels she is poised for a big season in 2009.
Stoller has been a rock for the Bison for three years, starting all 58 games over that span. An All-Patriot Leaguer in 2006 and 2007 and a two-time Academic All-District pick, Stoller is the linchpin of Bucknell's back line. One of Landis' first key recruits as Bucknell's head coach, Stoller came in with impressive PDA credentials and has not disappointed.
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Also keep an eye on sophomore Casey Crowley, who saw the most field time among Bucknell's rookie crop last year. Crowley played both defense and outside midfield, even starting six games, and she produced three assists. Others who are battling for more playing time in 2009 include junior midfielder Rosemary Walker, who appeared in 17 games last season; junior midfielder Julianne Harris, who is coming off an excellent spring season; sophomore midfielder Sadie Canter, who played in 12 games and had one assist; sophomore Jane Voris, who can play midfield or back; senior midfielder/defender Erin Lavery, a veteran player with a contagious attitude; and sophomore goalkeeper Colleen Garrehy, who provides stable support for Sutton.
Five of the team's six rising seniors studied abroad in the spring, and Landis felt that the spring training season proved to be a boon to a big and talented junior class.
“Our seniors are really close, and they provide leadership from within,” said Landis. “But the junior class has followed their lead and become super tight. This is a very good class, and they had a great spring, really taking over with so many seniors abroad.”
Landis is also very high on his freshman class, which features a promising goalkeeper in Sandita McDermott along with field players Taryn Boucher, Corinne Collins, Meghan Fitzpatrick, Emily Trosch, Jenna Tryon and Kayla Yee.
Landis has once again built a challenging schedule, featuring many top Eastern programs. A year ago the Bison knocked off Maryland in College Park and played Penn State tough on the road. The Nittany Lions are back on the schedule in 2009, this time on Bucknell's home turf at Emmitt Field on Wednesday, Sept. 23. The slate begins Aug. 28-30 at the James Madison Tournament, with matchups against Towson and the host Dukes. The Patriot League schedule will be challenging, with three straight road matches at Army, Holy Cross and Colgate to end the regular season. The Bucknell-Navy contest, always one to circle on the calendar, will be played in Lewisburg on Saturday, Oct. 17, and that will be Bucknell's Senior Day.
