Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Lax Has Payback on Mind as Patriot League Tournament Starts Friday at Colgate
4/26/2012 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 26, 2012
Complete Game Notes vs. Colgate 
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell enters the 2012 postseason looking for some payback. The fourth-seeded Bison suffered dramatic one-goal defeats to each of the other three teams in the field during the regular season, including last week's 11-10 loss to Colgate. That result gave the Raiders the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament, and now Bucknell and Colgate meet again in a semifinal matchup Friday at 5 p.m. on CBS College Sports.
No. 2 Lehigh and No. 3 Army square off in the second semifinal game, with the winners to meet for the title on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Bison are ranked 18th in the national polls for the third week in a row. They come in with a 9-6 overall record, with the six losses coming by a combined seven goals. Bucknell will be trying to become the first No. 4 seed to win the Patriot League Tournament title. In the previous eight tournaments, the No. 4 seed has won its semifinal game twice — Army over Colgate in 2006; Bucknell over Army in 2008 — but both times that team lost in the championship game.
With a Win over Colgate, Bucknell Would ...
• ... advance to Sunday's Patriot League championship game against either Army or Lehigh.
• ... play in the Patriot League final for the second straight year and fourth time since the league went to a tournament format in 2004.
• ... reach double-digit victories for the seventh time in program history.
• ... improve to 5-3 on the road this season.
• ... avenge last week's 11-10 loss to the Raiders.
• ... defeat the Raiders in Hamilton for the third straight time.
Last Time Out
• For the second week in a row the Bison lost in the final seconds. After falling 9-8 at Lehigh on a goal with 13 seconds remaining a week earlier, Bucknell fell 11-10 to Colgate last Friday on Peter Baum's goal with just 0:02 remaining.
• Bucknell led 6-1 in the second quarter and 6-2 at the half. The Raiders stormed back with seven goals in a row to go up 8-6, but then the Bison put together a 3-0 run, leading to a wild finish. Peter Burke tied the game at 10-10 with a goal with 2:25 left, but then Bucknell could not take advantage of an EMO, and Colgate won it on Baum's goal in the closing seconds, which was the ninth fourth-quarter goal of the game between the two teams.
• Chase Bailey led the Bison offense with three goals and an assist. Burke had two goals and two assists, Todd Heritage scored twice, and David Dickson had a goal and two assists.
• Defenseman Mike Huffner recorded four caused turnovers and five ground balls. After going two full games without a goal against Huffner and the Bucknell defense last season, national scoring leader Peter Baum had three in last week's matchup.
• Bucknell was struggling at the faceoff X until the fourth quarter, when coach Frank Fedorjaka went to three long poles on the faceoff unit to try to slow down Colgate's Robert Grabher. The Bison won 6 of 10 draws in the fourth quarter, but Grabher finished the game 15-for-25 with 12 ground balls. Defenseman Jackson Place saw his first action of the year at the X and went 4-for-8.
• Two strong offensive teams made life difficult for the goalies. Bucknell's 10 goals came on only 21 shots, while Colgate scored 11 goals on 32 shots. Kyle Feeney made eight saves for the Bison, while Colgate's Jared Madison had four stops.
• Colgate snapped a four-game losing streak against Bucknell, the last of which came in the 2011 Patriot League championship game.
Last Season vs. Colgate
• Bucknell went 2-0 against Colgate last season, winning 12-7 in Hamilton to end the regular season, followed by a 10-3 victory in the Patriot League championship game.
• In a winner-take-all scenario, Bucknell completed a perfect 6-0 Patriot League regular season and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament with the victory at Andy Kerr Stadium. Mike Danylyshyn scored four goals and the Bison defense held Colgate scoreless for more than 38 minutes after a wild first quarter. The Raiders led 4-1 early on and 5-4 after one period, but the Bison scored nine straight goals to take command of the contest.
• In the championship game, the Bison took control early, leading 5-1 after the first quarter. It was a 6-2 game at the half, then Bucknell outscored Colgate 3-0 in the third to put the game away. Charlie Streep tallied three goals and an assist en route to Tournament MVP honors. Kyle Feeney made nine saves to backstop a suffocating defensive effort.
• In the two games against Colgate last season, Bucknell held Raiders scoring whiz Peter Baum without a goal on 10 shots. Baum did have three assists.
Close Losses
• Bucknell's six losses this season have come by a total of seven goals. Three of the setbacks came in overtime (Delaware, Villanova, Army) and two others (Lehigh with 0:13 and Colgate with 0:02) came on tiebreaking goals scored in the final seconds of regulation.
• Bucknell's last 18 losses, dating back to early 2009, have all been by a margin of either one or two goals (14 by one goal, 4 by two goals), and seven of those losses have come in overtime.
• The last team to beat the Bison by more than two goals was fourth-ranked Notre Dame, which defeated Bucknell 10-6 on March 12, 2009 (and that was a 7-6 game in the fourth quarter before the Irish tacked on some late insurance goals). The Bison have played 57 games since then.
Bucknell Patriot League Tournament History
• After suffering championship-game losses in 2008 and 2009, the Bison got over the hump last year and won its first Patriot League Tournament title with convincing victories over Lehigh and Colgate.
• Bucknell is 4-6 all-time in the Patriot League Tournament, with its six losses coming by a combined 10 goals.
• This will be the second time Colgate has hosted the Patriot League Tournament, but the first time the Bison have played in Hamilton in the postseason. Colgate hosted in 2006, but that is the only year Bucknell has missed the playoffs since the league went to a tournament format in 2004.
• Bucknell is trying to become the first No. 4 seed to win the championship. No. 4 seeds have won their semifinal game twice — Army over Colgate in 2006 and Bucknell over Army in 2008 — but both times the No. 4 seed went on to lose in the final.
• Bucknell is also trying to become the first team to win back-to-back Patriot League Tournament titles since Navy in 2006 and 2007.
Bison Trying to Defend Patriot League Title
• In 2011, Bucknell ran the table in the Patriot League, winning all six regular-season contests before dispatching Lehigh and Colgate in a pair of one-sided victories in the Patriot League Tournament.
• This was Bucknell's first Patriot League title since the league adopted a postseason tournament format in 2004.
• Making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001, the Bison nearly pulled off an upset at Virginia in the first round. Bucknell led 10-6 late in the third quarter and 12-10 with possession of the ball inside four minutes to play, but the Cavaliers rallied. Virginia tied it with 1:46 left in regulation and won it 13-12 on Matt White's goal at 2:33 of overtime. The Wahoos then went on to win the national championship.
Bucknell Places Five on All-Patriot League Team
• Bucknell had five players earn All-Patriot League honors on Tuesday, including a league-high-tying four on the first team.
• Bucknell's First Team honorees were attackman Billy Eisenreich, goalie Kyle Feeney, midfielder Nick Gantsoudes and defenseman Mike Huffner. Freshman middie David Dickson was a Second Team selection.
• Eisenreich and Huffner both made the First Team for the second year in a row, while Feeney moved up from Second Team in 2011 to First Team this season. Gantsoudes and Dickson were honored for the first time.
• Dickson became the first Bucknell freshman to be named to an All-Patriot League Team since Charlie Streep in 2009.
• The First Team attack unit of Eisenreich, Colgate's Peter Baum and Army's Garrett Thul have a combined 171 points on 119 goals and 52 assists this season.
• On Wednesday it was announced that Huffner and Jason Neithamer were named to the Patriot League All-Academic Team.
Getting Offensive
• Bucknell's offense has been on a roll for most of the season. The Bison scored at least nine goals in each of their first 11 games of the year.
• The Bison rank 14th nationally in scoring offense, and they lead the nation in shooting percentage.
• Individually, Billy Eisenreich ranks fifth nationally in assists per game and sixth in points per game; Todd Heritage ranks 23rd in goals per game; and Chase Bailey and Heritage rank first and eighth, respectively, in shooting percentage.
Eisenreich a Tewaaraton Nominee
• On Wednesday, senior attackman Billy Eisenreich was announced as one of the 25 nominees for the Tewaaraton Trophy, presented to the college lacrosse player of the year.
• In the preseason, Eisenreich and goalie Kyle Feeney were named to the Tewaarton Trophy Watch List.
Eisenreich Joins 30-30 Club, Moves Up on Bucknell Scoring Chart
• Billy Eisenreich now has 31 goals and 32 assists for 63 points on the season. He became the first Division I player with 30 goals and 30 assists this season and is now one of only two 30-30 men in the nation, along with Siena's Bryan Neufeld. Eisenreich is only the third Bucknell player ever to accomplish the feat, and he is just the seventh player in program history to record 60 points in a season.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 58-21 (.734) in the Patriot League (regular season) since the start of the 2000 season.
• Prior to the advent of the Patriot League Tournament, Bucknell won or shared PL titles in 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. The Bison won outright championships in 1996 and 2001.
• In 1996, despite a 12-0 overall record, they were passed over for an NCAA Tournament bid, but in 2001 Bucknell received its very first NCAA invitation. That season the Bison fell to Notre Dame in the first round at West Point, N.Y.
• The Bison lost in the Patriot League Tournament championship game in both 2008 (to Colgate) and 2009 (to Navy). Last year they won the postseason tournament for the first time.
