Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Lacrosse Visits West Point Saturday for Key Patriot League Tilt
4/5/2013 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 5, 2013
Bucknell-Army GameTracker 
| Webcast 
Complete Game Notes vs. Army 
The Patriot League men's lacrosse “pennant race” is in full swing, with three weeks remaining in the regular season. For Bucknell, that means finishing up the regular season with its traditional Army-Lehigh-Colgate gauntlet. That three-game stretch begins Saturday at West Point, where the Bison and Black Knights continue what has been a hotly contested rivalry in recent years. Of the last 17 Bucknell-Army meetings dating back to 2000, 12 have been decided by one goal, and none have been decided by more than three goals.
Bucknell, ranked 11th in the USILA Coaches' Poll and 13th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll, enters the game tied with Lehigh atop the Patriot League standings at 3-0. Army and Colgate are a game back at 2-1. Those four teams seem to be well-positioned to secure the four Patriot League Tournament berths, but seeding is important, as the regular-season champion earns the right to host the tournament. The Bison are coming off a 16-9 rout of Holy Cross last weekend, while Army scored a big 10-4 road win at Colgate.
With a Win over Army, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 4-0 in the Patriot League and clinch a Patriot League Tournament berth.
• ... improve to 10-2 overall, giving the Bison 10 wins in a season for the seventh time in program history.
• ... defeat the Black Knights at West Point for the second straight time (8-7 in 2011).
• ... give the current senior class its 41st victory, tying the program record set by the Class of 2011.
About the Bison
• Bucknell (9-2) and Cornell (9-1) are the only two teams in the country with nine victories entering the weekend. The Bison handed the second-ranked Big Red their only loss of the season on March 19, 9-8 in Ithaca.
• Bucknell's .818 winning percentage ranks fourth nationally behind only Cornell (.900), Maryland (.875) and Marist (.875).
• Four of Bucknell's last six wins have come against ranked opponents (No. 13 UMass, No. 13 Drexel, No. 2 Cornell, No. 20 Albany). The Bison are 4-1 against ranked opponents in 2013.
• The Bison had won seven games in a row until being stymied by No. 16 Penn State 11-3 on March 26. Bucknell rebounded from that loss with a convincing 16-9 win over Holy Cross last Saturday.
• No. 2 Cornell was the highest-ranked team the Bison have beaten since 2006, when they upset No. 1 Maryland in College Park. Bucknell spotted the Big Red a 5-0 lead, and then outscored the highest-scoring team in the country 9-3 over the final 40 minutes of the game.
• The Bison rank in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense (9th, 8.0), man-down defense (6th, .828), scoring margin (8th, 3.27), fewest turnovers per game (9th, 13.7) and caused turnovers per game (10th, 9.64).
• Senior defenseman Mike Huffner was named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award this week. Huffner, who is also the Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, is a Dean's List student in biology with plans to attend medical school next year.
Last Time Out
• Bucknell bounced back from the Penn State loss in a big way, pouring in 11 first-half goals in a 16-9 Patriot League win over Holy Cross on Saturday at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
• The Bison never trailed in the game and raced out to a quick 6-1 lead. Bucknell led 11-2 at the half after outshooting the Crusaders 30-8 over the first 30 minutes.
• Six different Bison recorded at least four points in the game. Freshman Sean Doyle returned from a two-game injury absence and recorded four goals and an assist. Todd Heritage added four goals, and Chase Bailey and Brock Ghelfi scored three apiece. Setting up the goal-scorers were Peter Burke and David Dickson, who handed out four assists each. That was a career high for Burke.
• Ryan Gutowski and Gavin Sullivan won Bucknell plenty of possessions at the faceoff X. Gutowski went 7-for-10, all in the first half, and then Sullivan came in and went 9-for-13. Sullivan and Gutowski shared team-high honors with four ground balls each.
• Jackson Place led all players with three caused turnovers, while Mike Huffner and Alex Spring had two each. The Bison defense helped keep Holy Cross scoring leader James Kennedy without a goal.
• Bucknell finished with a 52-20 advantage in shots and a 41-18 edge in ground balls.
• The highlight of the day for Holy Cross (5-5) was a two-goal performance from freshman goalie Michael Ortlieb. Twice Ortlieb fired shots from his own end of the field that rolled into an empty net against Bucknell's 10-man ride.
• Bucknell improved to 23-0 all-time against Holy Cross.
Getting Defensive
• Bucknell has been known for its stellar defense through the years, and 2013 has been no exception. The Bison are conceding only 8.0 goals and 26.5 shots per game so far.
• During its seven-game winning streak, Bucknell faced three teams ranked in the top five in the country in scoring and held them all well under their season averages.
• On March 12, No. 13 Drexel came to Lewisburg ranked fifth nationally in scoring at 13.6 goals per game. The Bison held them to eight in a 17-8 rout.
• On March 19, No. 2 Cornell came in leading the nation in scoring at 15.2 goals per game. The Bison held the Big Red to just over half that total in a 9-8 win in Ithaca. Cornell took a 5-0 lead 20 minutes into the game, but then the Bison gave up only three more goals in the final 40 minutes.
• On March 12 at Albany, the 20th-ranked Great Danes came in ranked No. 2 nationally at 14.2 goals per game. Bucknell won that one 18-12 and outscored Albany 6-0 over the final 14 minutes.
• Among its top long-pole players, only senior defenseman Mike Huffner and junior defenseman Jackson Place brought extensive game experience into the season. Sophomore Ben Kellar has started all 11 games on close defense after missing all of 2012 with a knee injury. The top long-stick defensive middie is a freshman in Alex Spring, and the No. 2 LSM is senior Wills Miller, who was an offensive midfielder for his first two seasons at Bucknell before playing in five games with the long pole last season.
Finishing Strong
• The Bison have outscored opponents 32-20 in the fourth quarter of games this season, including a 29-12 margin in their nine wins.
• Bucknell tied a school record for most second-half goals with 14 in an 18-12 victory at No. 20 Albany on March 23. The last time the Bison scored 14 in the second half of a game was all the way back on Apr. 4, 1983 in a 25-6 win over VMI. They also had a 14-goal second half in a 20-5 win over Lehigh in 1982. The school record for most goals in any half is 19, that coming in the first half of a 26-9 rout of Denver on Apr. 12, 1992.
Freshmen Making Major Contributions
• Three of Bucknell's top six scorers and its ground ball co-leader are all freshmen.
• Midfielder Thomas Flibotte has 26 goals — sixth-most in the Patriot League — and has captured two Patriot League Rookie of the Week awards and one Offensive Player of the Week honor. Flibotte tied a Bucknell freshman record with six goals in the win over Drexel.
• Sean Doyle started the first eight games at attack before missing the Albany and Penn State games with an injury. Doyle has 19 goals and 11 assists for 30 points. He ranks seventh in the Patriot League in points per game and fourth in assists per game. Doyle recorded hat tricks against Navy and Cornell and logged four goals against Holy Cross. He also has a PL Rookie of the Week citation.
• Speedy middie Brock Ghelfi has 14 goals and an assist for 15 points.
• Long-stick defensive midfielder Alex Spring has been a major contributor both on defense and on the faceoff wings. Spring has nabbed 44 ground balls, tied with Ryan Gutowski for the team lead, and he was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week on March 4.
In the Crease
• Kyle Feeney took over as Bucknell's starting goalie in just the third game of his freshman year in 2010 and has been excellent ever since.
• As a freshman, he ranked No. 2 among all Division I goalies with a 7.45 goals-against average, and he ranked No. 2 in the Patriot League and No. 11 nationally in save percentage at .569.
• As a sophomore, Feeney had a league-best 7.24 GAA, which also ranked No. 6 nationally. Feeney broke a school record with 13 wins, and he was named to the All-Patriot League Second Team.
• Feeney currently ranks 10th nationally with a 7.90 GAA.
• Feeney recently became the sixth Bucknell netminder to record 500 career saves, and he now ranks fifth on Bucknell's all-time saves list.
• Feeney's 37 career wins are the most of any active Division I goalie.
Heritage Hits 100-Point Mark, Bailey Up Next
• Junior attackman Todd Heritage eclipsed the 100-point plateau in Bucknell's win at Albany on March 23.
• Heritage now has 89 goals and 18 assists for 107 career points.
• Heritage has moved into the top 10 on Bucknell's career goals chart.
• Chase Bailey is also on 100-point watch. He enters Saturday's game with 97 points on 68 goals and 29 assists.
Dickson Already on Bucknell Top-10 Assist Chart
• David Dickson is only 11 games into his sophomore year, but already he ranks among the all-time assist leaders in program history. His 61 career assists rank eighth on the Bucknell career list.
• Dickson's 61 career assists rank 17th among all active Division I players, and that is the highest total in the country among members of the sophomore class.
• Dickson's 35 assists this season already rank fifth on Bucknell's single-season list and are just five shy of the program record. Chris Cara dished out a record 40 assists in 2004.
• Dickson was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection as a freshman in 2012, and he was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team prior to the start of this season.
Gutowski Heating Up
• Senior faceoff specialist Ryan Gutowski has been solid of late. He has won at least half of his draws in five of the last seven games, and over the last four games he is converting at a 59.4% clip (38-64).
• Gutowski had two of the best games of his career in the back-to-back road wins over Cornell and Albany. In the win at No. 2 Cornell, Gutowski went 11-for-16 with eight ground balls, and one game later at Albany he was 14-for-23 with eight ground balls and his first career goal.
• He is now over .500 (75-149, .503) on the season.
• Gutowski, who also served as a punter on the Bison football team over the last four years, ranks third on Bucknell's career list for most faceoff wins.
Patriot League Success
• Bucknell is 61-21 (.744) 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). In 2011 they won the postseason tournament for the first time.
Head Coach Frank Fedorjaka
• Frank Fedorjaka is in his eighth season as Bucknell's head coach after succeeding the legendary Sid Jamieson. He was named the 2009 and 2011 Patriot League Coach of the Year.
• Fedorjaka, who is only the second head coach in the 45-year history of the program, has a 77-41 record at Bucknell and a 116-72 overall record, including a five-year stint at Franklin & Marshall.
• Fedorjaka earned his 100th career victory last season against Hobart, his alma mater.
• He had been an assistant coach under Jamieson before taking over as head coach in 2006.
Senior Speaking
• Bucknell's last six senior classes (including this year's seniors) comprise the six winningest classes in program history.
• This year's senior class already has 40 wins and is just one shy of the record, set by the class of 2011.
Bison Bits
• Bucknell is clearing the ball at an 88.2% clip, while opponents are just 75.9%.
• Bucknell has been flagged for only 30 penalties this season, compared to 44 by their opponents. The 30 penalties is a league low.
• David Dickson, Chase Bailey and Sean Doyle have all registered at least one point in every game this season. Dickson has multiple assists in every game.
• Bucknell's 11.3 goals per game leads the Patriot League.
Up Next
• The Bison return home to face Lehigh in another key Patriot League matchup on Friday, Apr. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The contest will be preceded by Senior Night ceremonies.
• That game will be webcast live on Bison Vision at BucknellBison.com.
• Bucknell had beaten Lehigh six straight times until last season in Bethlehem, when Dante Fantoni scored with 13.8 seconds left to give the Mountain Hawks a 9-8 victory.
