Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Soccer Hosts Army Friday, Donations to be Collected for A Bison Never Forgets
10/14/2010 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 14, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell men's soccer squad, embroiled in a three-way tie for third place in the Patriot League standings, has a key home game coming up Friday evening against Army. Game time is 6 p.m. at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. This will be the first of four straight home games for the Bison, who have seven contests remaining in the regular season.
The Bison are 1-1-1 in league play so far, with a 2-0 win over Navy, a 3-1 loss to American and a 2-2 draw at Holy Cross last weekend. Navy and Lehigh are also 1-1-1 and have four points in the standings. That trails Colgate and American, who have nine points after racing out to 3-0 league records. Army is 0-3 in Patriot League play and is the only team still looking for a point.
With Army in town on Friday, fans are reminded to support the "A Bison Never Forgets" program. The initiative was launched in the spring by Bison men's lacrosse student-athletes John Collett and Ryan Klipstein, with a mission of collecting funds to purchase care packages to send to former college lacrosse players now serving overseas in the armed forces. "A Bison Never Forgets" was a big success in the spring, and one of its goals was to spread the program to other Bucknell teams so that they may support alumni from their sport now in the military. The Bucknell men's and women's soccer teams have picked up the cause this fall. With both teams in action at home on Saturday, Oct. 2 on Family Weekend, the soccer programs raised over $1,000 in donations. Collett and Klipstein, who earned the 2010 Patriot League Sportsmanship Award in June, will be manning a table near the main entrance of Holmes Stadium at Friday's Bucknell-Army game.
The Bison come into the game with a 4-6-1 overall record after Saturday's tie at Holy Cross. Trailing 1-0 at the half, Brendan Burgdorf and Luke Joyner scored to put Bucknell up 2-1, but the Crusaders picked up the equalizer with only 54 seconds left in regulation.
Army is 1-9 on the season but has played much better soccer than its record indicates, especially defensively. Seven of the Black Knights' nine losses have been by one goal, and the other two were by two goals. Last time out the Black Knights held 24th-ranked Colgate scoreless until the 86th minute, but the Raiders scored late to steal a 1-0 win at Clinton Field. In league play, Army also has a 2-0 loss to American and a 1-0 loss to Navy. The Black Knights have not conceded a first-half goal against Patriot League competition, and three of the four goals against have come after the 71st minute. Army's lone victory was a 2-0 home decision over Rider on Sept. 29.
Coverage
• Click HERE for Bucknell-Army live stats on GameTracker. 
Army Series Notes
• Army leads the all-time series, 17-12, however Bucknell has had the better of recent play. The Bison have won 10 of the last 11 after Army had taken a 16-2 series lead. Eight of those Cadets wins came between 1931-43. As Patriot League rivals, the Bison lead 12-9.
• Last season at West Point, coach Brendan Nash earned his 100th career win as the Bison topped Army 3-0. Conor O'Brien (39'), Brendan Burgdorf (56') and Tommy McCabe ('71) scored the Bison goals, while Tommy Caso made three saves en route to the shutout. Bucknell had a 25-5 shot advantage and a 9-0 edge in corner kicks.
• In the last meeting at Emmitt Field in 2008, Bucknell defeated Army 1-0 on Mark Schmiegel's goal 2:20 into sudden-death overtime. The Bison played their school-record fifth straight overtime match and outshot the Black Knights 19-4. Bucknell's defense did not allow a shot on frame all night.
• Army's last win over the Bison was a 1-0 decision at West Point in 2005, and its last win in Lewisburg came in 1998 (2-1).
Bison Notebook
• Brendan Burgdorf's goal against Holy Cross was his team-leading fourth of the season. That is one more than Ross Liberati and Josh Plump.
• Liberati (3-1-7) and Luke Joyner (2-3-7) are second on the team behind Burgdorf with seven points. Both of Joyner's goals have come against Patriot League foes. • The Bison have scored at least one goal in all but one game this season, and in 65 of their last 67 games dating back to 2007.
• The tie at Holy Cross was the team's first since Oc. 1, 2008.
• Goalkeeper Tommy Caso played the 104 minutes at Holy Cross after starter Marc Hartmann left with an injury. Caso stopped a penalty kick in the 68th minute to keep the game 1-1, and he finished with seven saves.
• Hartmann has started the last four games, and he has a 1.07 goals-against average on the season.
• CK Kumah earned his first point of the season with an assist on Joyner's goal against Holy Cross.
• Burgdorf is tied for seventh in the Patriot League in points and tied for fourth in goals. Tommy McCabe is tied for third in the league with four assists, while Joyner is tied for fifth with three helpers.
• Bucknell has outshot foes 161-136 and out-corner-kicked opponents 65-37, but the Bison have been outscored 20-16. The 161 shots are the second-most in the Patriot League.
• Burgdorf leads the team and the Patriot League with 34 shot attempts. The next-most on the Bison is Josh Butzke, Joyner and Kumah with 18 apiece.
About Army
• The Black Knights have six goals in 10 matches this season, coming from six different players. Tanner Robertson, Jeffrey Pickett, Michael Leach, Brennan Randel, Ernest Whitaker and Mitch Johnson have the goals. Robertson also has two assists and leads the team with four points.
• Michael Kim, who also has two assists, leads the team with 18 shot attempts. Both of Kim's assists came on set pieces in the 2-0 win over Rider.
• In goal, Ryan Currens has started eight games and has 33 saves and 11 goals against. Michal Fiuk has the other two starts and has 18 saves while allowing four goals.
• Army just finished a six-game homestand, and will now play its next four on the road. The Black Knights will be looking to snap a 10-game Patriot League losing streak that dates back to 2008.
• Russell Payne, a former goalkeeper at Maryland and assistant coach at his alma mater, is in his first year as head coach at Army.
Looking Ahead
The Bison host Adelphi next Wedensday, Oct. 20, in a game that will be broadcast live on Bison Vision via BucknellBison.com. And then next Saturday, Oct. 23, Bucknell will host Patriot League co-leader Colgate in another big Patriot League showdown.
