Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Lacrosse Hosts Ohio State Saturday in Home Opener
2/18/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 18, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell men's lacrosse squad, ranked No. 17 in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and No. 18 in the USILA Coaches' Poll, plays its first home game of 2010 on Saturday against Ohio State at noon at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. As is the case for all regular-season home games, admission is free.
The Bison are anxious to get back on the field after a very impressive, yet disappointing, opener last Saturday against No. 2 Duke. Bucknell raced out to a 7-2 lead and never trailed in regulation, but the powerful Blue Devils rallied to win 12-11 in overtime.
Bucknell showed off its powerful offense in that game, putting up eight first-half goals against a team that has played in three straight Final Fours. Senior Tim Brandau scored four goals and senior co-captain Austin Winter had a goal and three assists for the Bison.
Under second-year head coach Nick Myers, the brother of former Bucknell assistant Pat Myers, Ohio State won its season opener at home, 10-8 over Villanova on Saturday.
Series Notes:
• The Bison and Buckeyes have met five times previously, with Bucknell winning four of the five.
• The last three meetings could not have been closer. Last year in Columbus the Buckeyes won 10-9 in overtime on Joel Dalgarno's sudden-death goal. In 2008 in Lewisburg the Bison prevailed 8-7 on John Togneri's goal in triple overtime. And in 2007 in Columbus, Bucknell also won by a single goal, 7-6.
• The teams first met in Lewisburg in 1991, resulting in a 19-8 Bucknell win. The Bison also prevailed at home in 1993, 20-8.
Bison Briefs:
• Bucknell outshot Duke 40-31 and won the faceoff battle 14-11 on Saturday. Bucknell's lead may have been even larger had it not been for some excellent goaltending by Duke freshman Dan Wigrizer, who made 10 of his 17 saves in the first half.
• The Bison were 3-for-4 with an extra man against the Blue Devils, getting two EMO goals from Ryan Klipstein and one from freshman Billy Mattimore.
• Tim Brandau's four goals were one shy of his career high. Brandau went over the 100-point mark in his career, and his 80 career goals are now just seven shy of the Bucknell top-10 list.
• Austin Winter's three assists give him 97 in his career. He is close to becoming the third player in program history with 100 career assists. Peter Von Hoffmann and Chris Cara are the other two, with 138 each.
• A year ago Jake Clarke set Bucknell records for faceoff wins (187) and ground balls (98) in a season, and he is already off to another fast start in 2010. Clark won 12 of 21 draws and collected a game-high 10 ground balls against the Blue Devils. It was his third career game with 10 or more GBs.
• Jason Neithamer and Alex Lyons both made their first starts on close defense, joining returning starter John Collett. Neithamer led the group with five ground balls, while Lyons had three takeaways.
• Atlanta native Chris Palmer got a chance to play in his hometown when the Bison and Blue Devils met at McEachern High School. Palmer scored a big fourth-quarter goal that broke a 9-9 tie.
• Junior Sam Finnell made his first career start in goal and made five saves. Freshman Kyle Feeney came on in relief in the third quarter and made four stops.
Scouting Ohio State:
• The Buckeyes return six starters and 28 lettermen from a team that finished 8-8 overall and 3-2 in the Great Western Lacrosse League last season.
• Ohio State has a new conference affiliation in 2010, as it is a member of the new ECAC Lacrosse League.
• Four seniors who earned Second Team All-GWLL honors in 2009 are back: defensemen Scott Foreman and Matt Kawamoto, midfielder James Green and goalie Brandon Freeman.
• In Saturday's 10-8 win over Villanova, Freeman made 11 saves and freshman Jeff Tundo had a hat trick in his first career game. In fact, the Buckeyes received seven of their 10 goals from freshmen, while Green also scored twice.
• Ohio State had a 9-5 lead in the fourth quarter against Villanova, but the Wildcats scored three straight to cut the margin to 9-8. Tundo's third goal with 2:40 left gave OSU some breathing room.
Next Up:
Bucknell travels to Towson to face the Tigers next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Johnny Unitas Stadium. The Bison dropped a close 8-7 decision at home to Towson last season, but they played that game without Austin Winter and Jake Clarke, who both sat out with injuries. Charlie Streep scored four of the team's seven goals.
