Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
La Salle
Bison Strike Twice in Final 30 Minutes to Beat La Salle, 2-1
9/8/2013 6:49:00 PM | Men's Soccer
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Second-half substitute Patrick Figgie set up goals by Chris Thorsheim and Jesse Klug to help the Bucknell men's soccer team rally past La Salle 2-1 on Sunday afternoon at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. Thorsheim tied it with a penalty kick in the 60th minute for his fourth goal of the season, and Klug won it with his first of the season in the 73rd.
The victory capped a 2-0 weekend for the Bison, who also defeated Buffalo 1-0 on Friday night. After a pair of tough one-goal losses to start the year, Bucknell is back level at 2-2 heading into its first road trip of the season next week.
Bucknell had been outshooting opponents by a wide margin all year without the results to show for it, and it appeared as though that might be the case again when La Salle scored on one of its two first-half attempts. A half-hour into the match Tom Baker sent a cross into the box, and a Bison defender headed the ball back toward his own goal. Clarke Fox, making his first start of the year in goal, had to leap and tip the ball off the crossbar, but La Salle's Rob Friskey was there to nudge the carom back across the line.
Bucknell outshot La Salle 8-2 in the first half and 19-6 for the game. The Bison upped the energy in the second half and they were rewarded for their pressure with two goals in the final 30 minutes of play.
The Bison thought they had a goal with 34 minutes to play when Explorers keeper John McCarthy leaped in traffic to secure high cross, and on his way down bounced the ball off the head of an unsuspecting Bucknell player. Klug punched the loose ball into the back of the net, but the referee waved it off.
Coach Brendan Nash brought on Figgie at outside midfield at the start of the half, and he had a direct hand in both Bison goals. Playing on the left wing, Figgie dribbled past a defender and sent in a cross that was handled by diving fullback Joe Farrell. A penalty was awarded, and Thorsheim cashed in for his fourth goal in as many games this season.
For the first time all season, a Bucknell player other than Thorsheim found the net when Klug scored with exactly 17 minutes left in regulation.Josh Butzke started the sequence by finding Figgie wide of the penalty area, this time on the right side. Figgie deftly split two defenders, walked in from the end line and slotted a perfect cross through the six-yard box to Klug for the winning goal.
Fox made two good saves in the second half, one on Farrell's header when the game was still tied at 1-1, and the other with 9:30 to play on a hard shot from Friskey to preserve the lead. McCarthy made seven saves for the Explorers (0-2-1), who were playing a Patriot League team for the third time in as many games to start the season.
"I think we just played a lot faster," commented Nash on the second-half turnaround. "There was a lot of space in the first half, and at halftime we talked to the guys about not getting sucked into playing slow and taking too many touches and knocking the ball negative. We challenged our outside midfielders to make something happen. After we put our first wave of subs in there, Patrick Figgie made a huge difference in the game coming off the bench. As a team, we played with a little bit more sense of urgency in the second half."
The Bison will play twice in New York's Capital District next weekend. They will play Albany at Union College in Schenectady next Friday at 8 p.m., and then Bucknell visits Siena next Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
