Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Field Hockey Hosts American for Senior Day Saturday
10/21/2011 8:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
Oct. 21, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell field hockey will face its toughest Patriot League challenge yet when it hosts American at noon on Saturday at Graham Field. Prior to taking on the eight-time defending league champions, the Bison will celebrate Senior Day, honoring Kate Bowen (Forty Fort, Pa./Wyoming Valley West), Marci Richard (Oley, Pa./Oley Valley), Mallory Smith (Schnecksville, Pa./Parkland) and Sarah Zargarpour (North Vancouver, British Columbia/Handsworth Secondary) for their four years with the team. Live stats on GameTracker will be available at BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell (5-9, 1-2 PL) is coming off a high note after defeating Towson 3-2 in overtime last Sunday. Smith had one of the best games of her career, kicking off the scoring with a goal less than a minute into the contest. The senior then tallied the game winner less than four minutes into extra time. Erica Perrine (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) made a career-best nine saves and improved her record to 5-6. The victory improved the Bison's record to 3-0 in overtime games this season.
The overtime win righted the Bison, which had struggled earlier in the week. Bucknell fell 3-1 at Cornell and 1-0 to Lehigh despite out-shooting the Mountain Hawks 25-7 and drawing eight more penalty corners than the league foe.
With at least one point in five of her last six games, Smith leads Bucknell in goals, assists and points. Her five goals, six assists, which is tied for first among Bison with Richard, and 16 points are also career highs.
Smith and Richard will be among the four Bison recognized on Senior Day. The quartet, which also includes Bowen and Zargarpour, have combined to give Bucknell a 35-36 record in their careers. They have also helped the squad to three consecutive Patriot League Tournaments and, with a pair of league games remaining on the 2011 slate, have the opportunity to make it four straight appearances for the first time in program history.
Field hockey's Class of 2012 advanced to the Patriot League Championship game for the third time in program history in 2008 where they ran up against this Saturday's opponent. American enters the weekend 7-6 overall and 3-0 in the league having defeated Lehigh (5-0), Holy Cross (4-0) and Colgate (8-1). In the three conference games, the Eagles have outscored their opponents by a combined 17-1. Earlier in the season, American shut out Princeton 2-0 just two days after the Bison lost to the Tigers by a count of 2-0.
American lost five of their eight All-Patriot League performers from a year ago, but it continues to put up big numbers on the field despite that. Tatum Dyer leads the Eagles with 18 points on six goals and six assists, and has won three Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week citations in the process. Alex McMackin is a two-time league Defensive Player of the week, and Grace Wilson and Rebecca Treharne have both been named Rookie of the Week this fall. Ashley Dalisera, who has posted a 5-1 record with a 1.85 goals-against average and .727 save percentage, has won two of the team's three Goalkeeper of the Week awards.
When Bucknell and American squared off in Washington, D.C., last fall, the Eagles came away with a 6-0 win. The Bison have been shut out in five of the last seven meetings, extending their losing streak to the league opponent to 11 games. Bucknell's last win against American came 3-2 during the 2001 season.
Bucknell's schedule does not get much easier after the bout with American. The Bison will host No. 8 Penn State at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The game will be the last of the season at Graham Field and will stream live on Bison Vision.
