Bucknell University Athletics
Home Sweet Home: Bison Men's Soccer Begins Long-Awaited Homestand this Week vs. Drexel, Navy
9/27/2010 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 27, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell men's soccer team looks to rebound from a Patriot League-opening road loss to American with a pair of home games against Drexel and Navy this week. The Bison have not played at home since the season opener on Sept. 1, but now they will get seven of their next eight at Emmitt Field. The homestand begins Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Drexel in a game that will air live on Bison Vision via BucknellBison.com.
Saturday's game at American was a rematch of the 2009 Patriot League championship game, won by Bucknell. This time playing on the Eagles' home field the Bison dominated the stat sheet but American prevailed on the scoreboard 3-1. Bucknell outshot AU 24-14, had a whopping 14-0 advantage in corner kicks, had an early go-ahead goal waved off and hit two posts. Despite all of that, American scored the first three goals of the day before the Bison got on the board on Brendan Klebanoff's first career goal.
Former league rivals in the East Coast Conference, Bucknell will be taking on Drexel for the first time since 1992. The Dragons, who are coached by former Bucknell assistant Doug Hess, started the year 4-0 but are 0-2-1 since then, including a 2-1 road loss to William & Mary in their Colonial Athletic Association opener on Saturday. Drexel has a 2-0 win over a Villanova side that defeated Bucknell in Lewisburg in the season opener, and the Dragons have also beaten Canisius (5-0), Temple (3-1) and NJIT (2-1). Drexel also has a 1-1 tie against Florida Gulf Coast and a 1-0 loss to South Florida on its resume.
On Saturday night at Emmitt Field the Bison will host the Patriot League's hottest team in Navy. The Midshipmen are 5-1 and ranked second in this week's NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Poll. Navy, which hosts George Washington on Wednesday before making the trip to Lewisburg, have outscored foes 14-3 on the season and are coming off a 1-0 win over arch-rival Army over the weekend.
Coverage
• Click HERE for a live video Webcast of the Bucknell-Drexel game. 
• Click HERE for Bucknell-Drexel live stats on GameTracker. 
• Click HERE for Bucknell-Navy live stats on GameTracker.
Drexel Series Notes
• The Bucknell-Drexel series dates all the way back to 1947, although the two teams have not met since 1992. Drexel holds a 9-6-2 lead in 17 previous meetings.
• From 1985-89 the two teams met annually as members of the East Coast Conference. Bucknell led 2-1-2 in those five contests.
• The last time Bucknell and Drexel matched up was in Philadelphia in 1992, a 1-0 Dragons victory. Bucknell won the last meeting in Lewisburg, a 1-0 verdict in 1991.
Navy Series Notes
• Navy holds a 23-8-2 lead in an all-time series that dates back to 1930, which was just the second season of varsity soccer at Bucknell.
• The Bison have gotten the better of the Midshipmen in recent years, however. Bucknell is 7-0-1 against Navy since 2002, including shutouts in three of the last four meetings.
• Last season in Annapolis, Bucknell parlayed a Sean King goal into a key 1-0 road win over the Midshipmen. The Bison allowed only one shot on goal in the game. Conor O'Brien and Ryan Sappington assisted on the King goal.
• The last time Bucknell and Navy met in Lewisburg the contest was preceded by the formal dedication of Holmes Stadium. A crowd of 1,202 went home happy after Mark Schmiegel scored his second goal of the game 7:36 into overtime. Mike Porcelli deflected in a shot from Adam Pennington to give Navy a 1-0 lead just 8:51 into the match, but the Bison outshot the Midshipmen 25-6 following that goal.
Bison Notebook
• Brendan Klebanoff scored Bucknell's lone goal in Saturday's 3-1 loss at American. It was the first career tally for Klebanoff, a junior midfielder who missed the entire 2009 season due to injury. Klebanoff's goal was assisted by defender Andrew Powell, his first of the season.
• Freshman Josh Butzke attempted a career-high seven shots against American, the most of any player in the game. The Bison finished with a 24-14 shot advantage.
• Backup goalkeeper Marc Hartmann played the final 35 minutes against American but did not face a shot.
• Last Wednesday the Bison took an early 1-0 lead on a Ross Liberati goal at Saint Francis (Pa.), but the game was suspended due to a severe thunderstorm after only 22 minutes.
• Even without counting that goal, Liberati remains Bucknell's top goal producer with three on the season. He also leads the team with seven points. Liberati ranks fifth in the Patriot League in goals and sixth in points.
• Despite missing the last two contests, Tommy McCabe leads the team with four assists.
• Brendan Burgdorf is the only other multiple goal scorer with two. Burgdorf ranks second in the Patriot League in shot attempts with 21.
• The Bison have been outscored 15-9 on the season, including 8-2 in the first half of games. Bucknell has attempted 40 corner kicks this season, compared to only 24 for its opponents.
• Opposing goalkeepers have doubled Bucknell's save total, 42-21.
About Drexel
• Drexel is enjoying a turnaround season under first-year head coach Doug Hess. The Dragons are already one victory shy of last season's total, when the team finished 5-12-1. Hess was Bucknell head coach Brendan Nash's first assistant coach when Nash took over the Bison program in 1999. Hess had been the head coach at Campbell for the last eight years before being named Drexel's head coach prior to this season.
• The Dragons have allowed only six goals in seven games so far, while scoring 14. Goalkeepers Tim Washam and Pentti Pussinen have one shutout apiece.
• Drexel has five players with mulitple goals on the season. Andrew Goldberg leads the way with four. Nathan Page has three and Anthony Bafile, Malcolm LeBourne and Ken Tribbett have two each.
• Nate Baker tops the squad with four assists.
• Despite the wide goal disparity, Drexel has been outshot 98-92 on the season.
• Pussinen has started five of the team's seven games in goal. He has 15 saves and five goals against, while Washam has 12 saves and one goal allowed in two starts.
About Navy
• The Midshipmen own the Patriot League's best overall record at 5-1, and they are one of four teams off to 1-0 starts in league play after blanking arch-rival Army 1-0 on Saturday.
• Michael Rakoczy leads the team with four goals on the season. Dave Arnold also has eight points on three goals and two assists, while Patrick Sopko has two goals and three assists for seven points.
• Rakoczy had the goal in the win over Army on Saturday, coming in the 60th minute off a David Jackson free kick.
• Navy ranks seventh in the eight-team Patriot League in shots per game (12.3), but it leads the league in goals per game (2.3). The Mids also lead the PL in fewest goals allowed per game (0.5).
• Aaron Dupere has started all six games in goal and has a terrific .870 save percentage, with 20 saves and only three goals allowed. Dupere and the Mids have not allowed more than one goal in any game this season.
• Navy's only loss this season was a 1-0 setback at UNC Greensboro. The team has home wins over UMBC (2-0), VMI (5-0) and Wofford (3-1) and road wins over Army and Delaware (3-1).
Looking Ahead
Following the Drexel and Navy games this week, the Bison will host UMBC next Tuesday at 7 p.m. before traveling to Holy Cross on Oct. 9.
