Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Soccer Opens Patriot League Play Saturday against Preseason Favorite Colgate
9/28/2012 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Sept. 28, 2012
Bucknell-Colgate GameTracker 
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LEWISBURG, Pa. --The Bison women's soccer team went 7-4 in the lead-up to Patriot League play, producing the second-most non-conference wins in program history so far with one more still to come at No. 8 Penn State next week, but on Saturday the intensity gets ramped up a notch as preseason PL favorite Colgate comes to town on the first day of conference play. The Bison and Raiders square off at 2 p.m. Saturday at Emmitt Field with three key points on the line.
Three Patriot League squads enter Patriot League play with winning records, and Bucknell and Colgate (5-4-2) are two of them. Both teams should be well-rested after busy early season slates. The Bison have been off since last Friday's 5-0 pounding of Canisius, while the Raiders have not played since falling 2-1 at Colorado College on Sept. 16.
These are two of the highest-scoring teams in the Patriot League, as both the Bison and Raiders come in averaging at least 2.0 goals per game. Bucknell is right on that mark with 22 goals in 11 games, while Colgate has 26 goals in 11 outings. Both teams have scored three or more goals in a game five times this season, and both feature one of the highest individual goal-scorers in the league. Colgate's Jillian Kinter, the reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, has eight goals, one behind league leader Ashlynn Soellner of Navy. Red-hot Bucknell junior Chelsey Garkowski ranks third in the league with seven goals. Garkowski has six goals in her last three games, including a school-record-tying four against Canisius last time out.
Garkowski also has three assists this season, and she leads the Bison and ranks third in the league in total points with 17. Courtney Nelson, who dished out three assists in the Canisius game, has four goals and three assists for 11 points on the season. Kayla Yee and Cassie Denger both have two goals and three assists for seven points, and 14 different Bison have at least one point so far.
Likewise, Colgate has plenty of firepower behind Kinter, as the Raiders have six players with multiple goals and a dozen with at least one point. Catherine Williams has 17 points on six goals and five assists, while Jenna Raepple (3-5-11), Caroline Brawner (3-1-7) and Emily Manoogian (2-3-7) all own at least seven points.
While both teams have been pumping in plenty of goals, Bucknell has had the stingier defense in non-league play. Five of Bucknell's seven wins have come by shutout, and three-time Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week Sandita McDermott ranks second in the league in goals-against average (1.23) and save percentage (.803).
Colgate has conceded 22 goals in its 11 matches and is looking for its first shutout of the year. The Raiders do feature one of the league's top goalkeepers in senior Ashley Walsh, who has a .727 save percentage on the season.
Colgate leads the all-time series 18-6, although Bucknell has won three of the last five, including each of the last two meetings at Emmitt Field. Last season in Hamilton, Raepple scored just three minutes into the game and Colgate added two more before halftime en route to a 3-0 win. In 2010 in Lewisburg, Christa Matlack's 12th-minute strike sent the Bison to a 1-0 victory, which secured a tie for the Patriot League regular-season title on the final day of the season.
Bucknell's team record for non-league victories in a season is eight, set in 1994. The Bison will have a chance to tie that mark on Tuesday when they face a Penn State team that is off to a 9-2 start. The Nittany Lions host Minnesota on Sunday before the Bison visit Jeffrey Field on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
After the Penn State game, it will be nothing but Patriot League encounters the rest of the way, including three straight home games against Holy Cross, Army and American from Oct. 5-13.
