Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
American
Bucknell Women's Soccer Starts League Play with 3-0 Win over American
10/2/2010 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 2, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell women's soccer team started Patriot League play with a solid all-around performance in a 3-0 victory over American Saturday at sunny Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. Sandita McDermott collected five saves for her first career shutout, and seniors Caitlin Holtz, Kelsey Johnson and Kelliann Doherty scored in Bucknell's second straight win.
Now 3-10 overall and 1-0 in the Patriot League, the Bison avenged a pair of 2009 losses to American (3-9, 0-1), including a 1-0 setback in the Patriot League Tournament. The Eagles saw their three-game winning streak snapped.
Bucknell scored first in the 24th minute after Christa Matlack earned a corner kick on a charge down the right flank. On the corner, Holtz sent a perfectly placed ball toward the back post, and it tipped off the hands of backpedaling goalkeeper Arianna Efstathiou into the net.
It was still a 1-0 game into the second half when Bucknell cashed in on a goal-mouth scramble. An American foul to the left of the penalty area set up a Holtz free kick from a dangerous spot. The ball was headed toward the goal where Efstathiou got a piece of an initial close-range shot, but the ball squirted through and Johnson punched it in for a 2-0 lead. For Johnson, a senior defender, it was her first goal since her freshman season.
The Bison added one more insurance marker in the 84th minute. Matlack again maneuvered around a defender on the end line and had plenty of space to carry the ball almost all the way to the side of the 6-yard box. At the last minute she squared a pass across to Doherty who had plenty of next to tap in her first goal of the year.
It was a fairly uneventful day for McDermott, who benefitted from arock-solid performance by the back four of Johnson, Amanda Citron, Corinne Collins and Casey Crowley. McDermott made four of her five saves in the second half, her toughest of the day a lunging deflection of a Kendra Jones 15-yard shot in the final 15 minutes. American's only other good chance came with 17 minutes to play when Jones came up with a steal, but her pass to a wide-open Carleigh Morba was flagged for offside.
American finished with a 14-10 shot advantage, while Bucknell had a 6-2 edge in corner kicks.
The Bison are back in action next weekend in the Lehigh Valley. Bucknell faces Lafayette on Friday and Lehigh on Sunday.
