Bucknell University
Holy Cross
Bucknell Men's Soccer Rides Great Start to 3-0 Win over Holy Cross
10/15/2011 8:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Oct. 15, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Mayowa Alli (Lanham, Md./Bishop McNamara) scored his Patriot League-leading seventh goal of the season just 52 seconds into the game, and Josh Plump (Millburn, N.J./Millburn) and Luke Joyner (Dallas, Texas/J.J. Pearce) added two more goals in the next 13 minutes to lift the Bucknell men's soccer team to a 3-0 win over Holy Cross on Saturday before a spirited crowd at windswept Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium.
With the victory, the Bison are now 7-5-1 on the season, and they leveled their Patriot League record at 2-2-0 with three conference games still to come.
Bucknell shook out of a scoring slump with a three-goal performace in last week's road win over Navy, and the Bison got going again right off of the opening whistle in this one. Joyner was tripped at midfield just seconds after the game kicked off, and on the ensuing free kick Crusaders keeper Evan Polanik had trouble with a ball up in the wind and it went out for a corner kick. On the corner, the ball squirted free to Alli in the middle of the box. His first attempt was blocked, but then he poked in his own rebound for a 1-0 lead.
At the 6:48 mark, Brendan Burgdorf (Westfield, N.J./Pingry School) sent a perfect pass through the back line to Plump, who scored his second goal of the season from about 14 yards out. Moments later Burgdorf slipped another perfect pass through to Ryan Sappington (Barboursville, Va./Shattuck-St. Mary's) on the left side, and Polanik made a strong save to keep it a 2-0 game.
Bucknell did get a third goal at the 13:31 mark, and it was a highlight-reel goal at that. The Crusaders headed away a corner kick, but defensive midfielder Brian Ward (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) gathered the loose ball and chipped a pass back into the box toward the far post, where Joyner volleyed it out of the air into the roof of the goal. It was Joyner's third goal in the last two games and his fifth of the season.
The Bison had one more good look in the first half, when Jonathan Grad (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin) just missed the right post with a header with 27 minutes left.
Bucknell outshot Holy Cross 11-2 in the first half and 16-7 for the game. Neither side got much going in the second half, and the Bison cruised to their fifth shutout of the season.
Tommy Caso (Phoenix, Md./McDonogh) was needed for just one save in the game, as the Bison back four of Nader Sawtarie (Bethany, W.Va./Linsly School), Jermaine Jarrett (Kingston, Jamaica/Hotchkiss School), Andrew Powell (Charlton, Mass./St. John's) and Alli cleaned up everything headed their way.
Bucknell has a non-conference game at Adelphi on Tuesday night before resuming Patriot League play at Army next Saturday at 7 p.m.
