Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Soccer Puts Three-Game Win Streak on Line Friday vs. UMBC
9/5/2012 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
- Bucknell-UMBC GameTracker
- Bucknell-Saint Francis Live Stats
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The red-hot Bucknell women's soccer team has another busy weekend coming up, including a home tilt Friday night against UMBC at 7 p.m. at Emmitt Field. The Bison, who have won three straight games to improve to 3-2 on the year, also play Saint Francis (Pa.) on the road on Sunday at noon.
The Bison have outscored their foes 7-1 during this current three-game winning streak, and they are coming off back-to-back shutouts over Buffalo and St. Bonaventure. Dating back to the first half of a 3-1 victory over Robert Morris on Aug. 26, Bucknell has gone 236:54 without conceding a goal.
Bucknell has gotten offense from a variety of sources so far, as five different players have scored a goal and nine have at least one assist. Sophomore Courtney Nelson leads the team with three goals -- the first three of her career -- including strikes in both games last weekend. Her second-half tally stood up as the game-winner in the 1-0 win over Buffalo, and she scored a key insurance goal in the 3-0 victory over St. Bonaventure on Sunday.
Sophomore Cassie Denger has recorded an assist in three straight games and also added a goal in the Robert Morris win. Denger's five total points rank second on the team behind Nelson's six. Junior Liz Dwornik notched her first career two-goal game at St. Bonaventure on Sunday. Other multi-point performers include junior Chelsey Garkowski with a goal and an assist, and senior Kayla Yee with a pair of assists.
The Bison already have eight goals in five matches after scoring 10 all of last season, and they have outshot foes 71-65 on the season.
Senior Sandita McDermott captured this week's Brine Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week award after posting two straight clean sheets. She has 17 saves with six goals against on the season, giving her a .739 save percentage. McDermott has remained relatively upright in the last few games thanks to the strong play of senior Corinne Collins, junior Bridget Gilmartin, sophomore Hannah Bonotto and freshman Lauren Dandie in the back four.
Friday's opponent, UMBC, comes in with a 1-4-1 record, despite a +1 goal differential on the season. The Retrievers have been competitive in three matches against Patriot League competition. UMBC opened its season with a scoreless tie against Lafayette, then suffered successive 2-1 losses to Navy and American. UMBC also has a pair of 1-0 setbacks against Drexel and LIU, while its lone victory was a 5-0 rout of St. Peter's on the road on Aug. 31.
Alexa Quaranta, Bria Bass and Preslie Quaranta have registered two goals apiece for the Retrievers, while Rachel McKee has one goal, coming on a penalty kick. Lauren Kadet has started all six games in goal and has 43 saves for an .878 save percentage and 0.97 goals-against average. UMBC has been outshot 105-44 on the season.
Last season the Bison pulled out a 2-1 win over UMBC on Yee's tiebreaking goal with 1:10 left in regulation. Dwornik also scored for the Bison, while McKee had the Retrievers' goal after a Bucknell giveaway in the back.
Bucknell has a 5-2 lead in the all-time series with UMBC. In the last meeting at Emmitt Field in 2009, Rosemary Walker and Brooke Stokes both scored in the final 4:46 of regulation to lift the Bison to a dramatic 2-1 win.
On Sunday the Bison will make the drive out to Loretto, Pa., for a noon kickoff against a good Saint Francis (Pa.) side. The Red Flash own a 1-3-1 record after Sunday's 2-2 draw at Morehead State. After opening the year with a 2-0 home win over Duquesne, Saint Francis suffered three straight road defeats against quality competition. The Red Flash fell 1-0 at San Diego State, 2-0 at No. 15 Long Beach State and 2-1 at Marshall. They also defeated American 2-0 in an exhibition game prior to the start of the season.
Saint Francis, which will have had a full week off prior to hosting Bucknell on Sunday, has goals from four different players so far. Tesa McKibben, who has scored against Bucknell in each of the last two seasons, has a pair of goals to go along with one assist. Eloa Nascimento has a goal and an assist, while Beatriz Maros de Carvalho and Brittany Hasson have logged one goal apiece.
Brianna Butcher has played every minute in goal so far, recording 33 saves with seven goals against (.825).
The preseason favorite in the Northeast Conference this season, Saint Francis went 12-6-3 overall and 8-1-1 in the NEC in 2011. After winning the regular-season conference title, they lost to Long Island in penalty kicks in the NEC Tournament championship. A year earlier, the Red Flash went 15-5-2, won the NEC title, then took Big Ten champion Ohio State into double overtime before falling in the 106th minute in the NCAA Tournament.
Last Sept. 17 at Emmitt Field, Bucknell had a two-game winning streak snapped by Saint Francis. The Red Flash won 2-1 on goals from McKibben and Barbara Maros de Carvalho. Denger scored her first career goal to pull the Bison within 2-1 with six minutes to play, but they could not find the equalizer.
The Bison and Red Flash have meet every year since 1992, with the exception of 2004, when the teams' scheduled date was cancelled due to heavy rain. Bucknell leads the series 14-4-1, although Saint Francis has won the last two. The Bison captured the first 10 series meetings.
