Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Lax Faces Another Ranked Foe on Road Saturday at No. 20 Albany
3/22/2013 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
March 22, 2013
Bucknell-Albany Live Stats | Webcast
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The 7-1 Bucknell men's lacrosse team is 3-0 against ranked opponents this season, including a dramatic 9-8 win at No. 2 Cornell on Tuesday, and now the Bison will face another top-20 team on the road on Saturday when they travel to No. 20 Albany. Game time is 1 p.m. at John Fallon Field.
Bucknell (No. 15 USILA Poll, No. 16 Nike/Inside Lacrosse Poll) has kept some of the nation's highest-scoring teams in check during this current six-game winning streak, and it will have to do it again on Saturday against a Great Danes team that is 4-2, including a season-opening 16-15 double-overtime win at Syracuse, and ranks second nationally in goals per game at 14.5. After Saturday, the Bison will have faced three of the top seven offenses in the country.
The Bison just held the No. 1 scoring team, Cornell, to eight goals, which was just about half of its season average of 15.2 goals per game coming in. The Big Red scored three goals in the first 2:08 of the game while heavy snow was falling, and they jumped out to a 5-0 lead 20 minutes into the contest. But the Bison outscored them 9-3 the rest of the way, including Chase Bailey's tiebreaking goal with 1:00 remaining.
A week earlier, Bucknell conceded only eight goals to then-No. 13 Drexel, the fifth-ranked offense in the country at the time at 13.6 goals per game, in a 17-8 rout. And the game before that, the Bison smothered then-No. 9/13 Massachusetts 7-4.
Bucknell is allowing only 6.0 goals per game during the six-game winning streak and just 7.0 goals per contest on the season. That is the fourth-best figure in Division I lacrosse, trailing only Hofstra (6.4), Bellarmine (6.6) and Maryland (6.8).
Senior Kyle Feeney, who has captured the last two Patriot League Goalie of the Week awards, has a 6.88 goals-against average and a .569 save percentage. Feeney's GAA is fourth-best in the nation.
The Bison defense trio of Mike Huffner, Ben Kellar and Jackson Place will have their hands full with the talented "Thompson Trio" on attack for Albany. Brothers Lyle and Miles Thompson, and their cousin Ty Thompson have racked up the points so far this season. Lyle (15-28-43) leads the nation in both points (7.17) and assists (4.67) per game. Miles (14-3-17 in three games) came back from a three-game injury absence and scored a school-record nine goals in a 17-15 shootout win over Bryant last Saturday. Ty has 15 goals and seven assists for 17 points.
In addition to the wild wins over Syracuse and Bryant, Albany has defeated UMass (15-9) and Canisius (12-11). The Great Danes also scored 19 goals in a loss at Drexel (20-19), and they fell 15-8 at Yale.
Offensively, Bucknell has gotten good scoring balance from its top six scorers, three of which are freshmen. Rookies Sean Doyle (15-10-25), Thomas Flibotte (21-0-21) and Brock Ghelfi (8-0-8) have all made a major impact, joining returnees David Dickson (2-25-27), Bailey (16-7-23) and Todd Heritage (18-3-21).
Dickson ranks third nationally in assists, and Flibotte is 11th nationally in goals as a second-line midfielder. Flibotte is a two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week, and he won his first Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honor on Monday. He was also selected as the Cascade Rookie of the Week on Wednesday.
Bucknell will be going up against an Albany defense that has allowed 14.2 goals per game, the second-most among the 63 Division I programs. The Great Danes start a freshman in goal in Blaze Riorden. He has played every minute in the crease so far and has a .465 save percentage.
The Bison have been much-improved in the faceoff area in recent games, none better than Tuesday's effort from Ryan Gutowski and Gavin Sullivan in the win over Cornell. Gutowski went 11-for-16 and Sullivan a perfect 5-for-5 as Bucknell won 76.2 percent of the draws in the game.
On the season, Bucknell is up to 45.6 percent, while Albany wins 40.3 percent of its faceoffs.
This will be the fourth all-time meeting between Bucknell and Albany. The Great Danes took the first one 7-6 in Albany in 2010, but the Bison won at home in each of the last two seasons. In 2011, Bucknell defeated the 16th-ranked Great Danes 11-9. Last season, the Bison stormed to their sixth consecutive win with a 15-7 victory over Albany.
In last year's clash, Nick Gantsoudes matched his career high with five goals, Heritage and Bailey scored three times each, Dickson handed out five assists and Feeney made 12 saves to lead the Bison to victory.
Following the Albany game, Bucknell will play its next two at home. The Bison host in-state rival No. 17/19 Penn State on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and Patriot League foe Holy Cross the following Saturday, March 30 at 1 p.m. Both games will air on Bison Vision at BucknellBison.com.
