Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Soccer Hosts Marist, VCU This Weekend, Sunday's Game on Bison Vision
9/17/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 17, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell women's soccer team has not accrued many style points over the last week, but the Bison are playing winning soccer nonetheless, as they bring a three-game winning streak into a three-game homestand that begins Friday night against Marist.
Bucknell, which is 28-8-1 at home under fifth-year head coach Ben Landis, hosts the Red Foxes at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m., then caps off a soccer doubleheader on Sunday at 3 p.m. against Virginia Commonwealth. At noon on Sunday, the Bison men's team will host 24th-ranked College of Charleston.
Both of Sunday's games will be broadcast live on Bison Vision, via BucknellBison.com.
The home set continues on Wednesday night, when the Bison host Penn State at 7 p.m.
Bucknell's last three victories have all come by one goal, including a pair of 1-0 decisions on the road last weekend against Mount St. Mary's and Iona. In their most recent home game, the Bison came from one goal down to defeat Saint Francis (Pa.) 2-1 on Sept. 9.
While the offense has been slow to get going, Bucknell's defense has been much-improved since allowing seven goals against Towson and James Madison on opening weekend. Since then, the Bison have surrendered only three goals in five games, and one of those was an own goal.
The veteran back line has settled in, and Landis has a nice goalkeeper rotation going, with senior Kathryn Sutton and rapidly emerging sophomore Colleen Garrehy both playing well recently.
BISON WOMEN'S SOCCER NOTEBOOK
Coverage
- Click HERE to follow Bucknell-Marist live stats via GameTracker.
- Click HERE to follow Bucknell-VCU live stats via GameTracker.
- Click HERE to watch the Bucknell-VCU game live on Bison Vision (subscription fee required).
Bucknell vs. Marist Series Notes
- Bucknell and Marist have played every year since 2001, and the Bison lead the series 7-1.
- That series record is somewhat misleading, as Bucknell won each of the first six meetings by one goal.
- Marist's lone victory over the Bison was a 2-0 verdict in Lewisburg in 2007.
- The Bison avenged that loss a year ago in Poughkeepsie, winning 2-0 on two late goals. Christa Matlack broke a scoreless tie with an unassisted goal in the 83rd minute, then an own goal with under five minutes to play made it 2-0. Kathryn Sutton made two saves en route to her fifth shutout of the season.
Bucknell vs. VCU Series Notes
- Bucknell and Virginia Commonwealth met for the very first time last season in Richmond, Va., with VCU prevailing 3-2.
- In that game the Bison fell behind 2-0 on a pair of Stephanie Power goals, but they rallied behind scores from Christa Matlack and Brooke Stokes. Stokes' goal, off a redirect of a Caitlin Holtz free kick, came at 83:54, but just 39 seconds later Laurel Pastor scored to put VCU back in front.
About Marist
- The Red Foxes played Patriot League foe Colgate to a 1-1 draw on Sunday, improving their season mark to 1-3-1. Marist opened with a 2-0 home victory over Youngstown State, then dropped three straight on the road to San Francisco (2-0), UC Davis (3-2) and No. 10 Boston College (4-0).
- Kate Fox has scored three of Marist's five goals this season, with Amy Tillotson and Jackie Frey accounting for the other two. Fox has 20 career goals, one of them coming against Bucknell in 2007.
- Junior Jamie Balzarini, a UNC Wilmington transfer, has started all five games in goal for Marist. She has 22 saves while allowing 10 goals.
- Marist returned 10 starters and 18 letterwinners from a 2008 team that finished 5-14-0 overall and 3-6-0 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
About VCU
- The Rams are off to a 2-3-1 start in 2009, but they just had an unbeaten weekend at their own tournament. VCU defeated Loyola (Md.) 3-0 and played crosstown rival Richmond to a scoreless draw over the weekend. The Rams also own a win over Wofford (3-0), while their losses have come against UNC Greensboro (1-0), Virginia Tech (4-3) and East Carolina (2-1).
- VCU's primary scorers so far have been Jasmine Riley (3-3-9) and June Hartman (3-2-8). Myriam Bouchard, Heather Hovanesian, Sarah McAulay and Azania also have goals.
- Goalkeeper Kate Hudson has started five of the six matches and has made 20 saves with seven goals against. Chenae Nelson got the start against Wofford and picked up the shutout.
- VCU has an unusual coaching situation, with the husband-wife tandem of Tim Sahaydak and Tiffany Roberts Sahaydak serving as co-head coaches. Both were former standout players at North Carolina. Tiffany played for 10 years on the U.S. National Team and was on the gold-medal teams at the 1996 Olympics and 1999 World Cup. Tim played professionally in MLS with the COlumbus Crew and in the USL.
About the Bison
- So far in 2009 Bucknell has taken goal-scoring balance to a record-setting extreme. The Bison have seven goals this season, all coming from seven different players. That is a new program record for most goals to start a season by different players. In 2004, Bucknell's first six goals of the year came from a different set of boots.
- Of those seven goals, four have accounted for a Bucknell player's first career goal. Freshman Kayla Yee and Jenna Tryon and juniors Rosemary Walker and Julianne Harris all have notched their first career tallies.
- Surprisingly, none of the team's seven goal-scorers are named Christa Matlack, the Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year. Matlack missed two matches with an injury but returned in good form last week. She has attempted 24 shots, more than twice the amount of any other Bison, but Matlack has been victimized by a number of close calls, good saves and shots off the framework. Matlack,a junior, has 16 career goals.
- Junior Kelsey Johnson was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. She led a very strong defensive effort in a pair of 1-0 road shutouts over Mount St. Mary's and Iona over the weekend.
- The Iona game was scoreless until Tryon headed in a corner kick from Caitlin Holtz with 2:46 remaining in regulation.
- The Bison needed overtime to turn back Mount St. Mary's on Friday. Senior co-captain Molly Linhart scored on a 25-yard shot 5:51 into sudden-death. It was Bucknell's first overtime victory since the 2007 Patriot League Tournament semifinals against Army. The goal-scorer in that game: Linhart.
- Last Wednesday the Bison rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to defeat Saint Francis (Pa.) 2-1. Yee and Harris scored goals five minutes before and five minutes after the halftime break.
- Sophomore Colleen Garrehy played the second half against Saint Francis and earned her first collegiate victory. She made three saves, including one on a breakaway, en route to the win. Garrehy then played all 96 minutes against Mount St. Mary's and picked up her first career shutout with a four-save performance. Garrehy and Sutton shared the shutout on Sunday, combining for six saves. With a clean sheet in three appearances last week, Garrehy lowered her season goals-against average to 0.80 and upped her save percentage to .897.
Looking Ahead
- After this weekend's games against Marist and VCU, the Bison will host Penn State at Emmitt Field at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. That, too, will be part of a doubleheader with the Bison men, who will face Saint Francis (Pa.) at 3:30 p.m. The Bucknell women last hosted Penn State in 2007, and the game drew more than 1,400 fans. The Nittany Lions were ranked No. 17 nationally at that time, but the Bison played them to a scoreless first half. Penn State scored twice early in the second, but Chelsea McGorry made it 2-1 in the 60th minute. It stayed 2-1 until Penn State scored three in the last 7:24, including a tack-on goal with one second remaining, to pull away 5-1.
