Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Ranked No. 20 in Inside Lacrosse Preseason Poll
12/1/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Dec. 1, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell men's lacrosse team is ranked No. 20 in the Inside Lacrosse preseason poll, which was released this week by the lacrosse Web site. The Bison, who return eight starters from last year's 8-6 team, are one of two Patriot League teams in the poll, joining No. 13 Army.
Syracuse is ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, followed by Virginia, North Carolina, Cornell and defending national champion Duke. Maryland, Notre Dame, Stony Brook, Hofstra and Princeton round out the top 10. Ranked 11-20 are Johns Hopkins, Denver, Army, Loyola, Massachusetts, Yale, Brown, Georgetown, Drexel and Bucknell.
In 2011 the Bison will host a preseason scrimmage against Towson on Feb. 5, and they will scrimmage Virginia and Georgetown in Charlottesville a week later in preparation for the Feb. 19 season opener against Canisius at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. That will be the first meeting between the Bison and Golden Griffins since 1995.
Bucknell will also play non-conference home games against Villanova on Feb. 26, Hartford on March 16, Albany on March 26 and Penn State on March 29. Non-league road tests come against Penn on March 1 and Hobart on March 12, and the Bison will take on Robert Morris on March 22 at Mount Lebanon High School in Pittsburgh.
The Patriot League opener will be a key showdown with traditional power Navy on Saturday, March 5. The Bison also get Holy Cross at home on Apr. 2, but they will have to play four road conference games this season. Bucknell travels to Lafayette on March 19, and it will end the regular season with three straight road games against Army (Apr. 9), Lehigh (Apr. 15) and Colgate (Apr. 23).
The four-team Patriot League Tournament will be held Apr. 29 and May 1 at the home of the highest-seeded team.
Bucknell is coming off a strong, yet frustrating 2010 season. The team posted wins over talented sides such as Ohio State, Towson, Hobart, Penn State and Colgate, but all five of the team's regular-season losses came by one goal, including overtime setbacks to eventual national-champion Duke as well as Army and Navy. The Bison also fell to 11th-ranked Lafayette and Albany by one goal apiece, and they dropped a down-to-the-wire 9-7 decision to top-ranked Army in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
In 2011, the Bison return their entire defense, faceoff unit and starting goalkeeper. That includes two-time First Team All-Patriot League faceoff man Jake Clarke, who is Bucknell's career leader in ground balls, and a pair of all-league close defensemen in Alex Lyons and Jason Neithamer. Offensively, Bucknell must replace three-time Honorable Mention All-American Austin Winter and 100-point man Tim Brandau at attack, as well as a starting midfielder in Chris Palmer.
Frank Fedorjaka is entering his sixth season as Bucknell's head coach, and his 2011 roster includes 27 returning lettermen and a promising 13-man freshman class.
