Women's Soccer Hosts Army Saturday in PL Opener

9/20/2013 2:41:00 PM | Women's Soccer

By: TBD

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Conference play has arrived for the 10 Patriot League women's soccer teams, with a full slate of matches on tap this weekend. Bucknell kicks off PL action at home against Army on Saturday at 2 p.m.. The game will air live on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network.

Bucknell has nothing but league matches left on the 2013 regular-season schedule. The Bison went 3-5 in non-conference play. They opened the season with back-to-back shutout wins over Rider and Mount St. Mary's, then dropped four straight, including a road test at Pittsburgh and a home game in front of a record-setting crowd against No. 13 Penn State. Bucknell bounced back last Friday with a 1-0 win at Towson, and most recently the Bison fell 1-0 at UMBC last Sunday.

The Bison have received balanced scoring thus far, with seven different players accounting for the team's eight goals. Chelsey Garkowski has two goals, while Courtney Nelson, Liz Dwornik, Evelyn Nicinski, Brigit Falcón, Sarah Bresette and Danielle Piccirilli have one each. Falcón logged the game-winner in the Towson win last week.

Sophomore Jessie Ashworth has started all eight games in goal. She has a solid .803 save percentage and leads the Patriot League in saves with 53.

Army brings a 4-3-1 record into Saturday's clash. The Black Knights, under the direction of first-year coach Marcia McDermott, are coming off a 5-0 pasting of Rhode Island last Saturday. They also have shutout wins over Central Connecticut (1-0), Massachusetts (2-0) and Fairfield (1-0), as well as a 1-1 draw with Fordham.

Kimberly An leads the team in goals (4), assists (2) and points (10). Katie Holder has three goals, and Anna Lail and Molly McGuigan have two each for Army, which has outscored opponents 12-9 on the season. Jordan Cassalia has played all but six minutes in goal and has a .757 save percentage.

Nelson and Cassie Denger scored in Bucknell's 2-0 win over Army last season at Emmitt Field. Army leads the all-time series 15-12-2. These two teams have played seven times in Patriot League Tournament games. The Bison won 2-1 in overtime at home in the semifinals in 2007, and Bucknell scored a 3-1 victory in the PL championship game in 2005. The most recent postseason meeting came in 2008, when the two teams played 110 minutes of scoreless soccer before Army went on to advance in penalty kicks.

After hosting Army, Bucknell will next take on Lehigh in Bethlehem, Pa., on Friday, Sept. 27.