Women's Soccer Hosts Lafayette, Visits Holy Cross in Crucial Week

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LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell women's soccer team has three regular-season Patriot League games remaining, and two of them come this week against teams just below the Bison in the standings. Bucknell currently occupies the sixth and final Patriot League Tournament position, and on Wednesday it hosts seventh-place Lafayette before traveling to ninth-place Holy Cross on Saturday.

Wednesday's game against the Leopards starts at 7 p.m., while Saturday's game in Worcester, Massachusetts kicks off at noon. Both games will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.

Bucknell starts the week with a 7-7-2 overall record and a 2-3-1 mark in the Patriot League. On the heels of back-to-back wins over Loyola and American, the Bison have now dropped two straight to Navy and Colgate, the top two teams in the table. Bucknell played well at first-place Colgate on Saturday, but the Raiders scored twice late in the contest to pull out the 2-0 win.

With seven points in the standings, Bucknell trails fifth-place Lehigh (2-0-4) by three points and third-place Boston University (3-1-2) and Army (3-1-2) by four. Lafayette (2-4-0) is lurking just one point behind the Bison in seventh place, and Holy Cross (1-4-1) in three back. The Crusaders play at Army on Wednesday before hosting Bucknell.

Lafayette (5-8-0 overall) is coming off a come-from-behind 2-1 win over American, a nice bounce-back from a 6-1 loss to Boston University. Elizabeth Scoda and Joanna Scotti scored goals 1:15 apart early in the second half to erase a 1-0 deficit.

Kaelin King, Jaclyn Giordano and Alyssa Finelli have three goals each to lead the Leopards in scoring. Danielle Sedillo has started 12 of the team's 13 games in goal, but Kelly O'Brien came on in relief and got the win against Holy Cross, earning her Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors. Lafayette has been outscored 26-14 on the season.

Bucknell is 17-6-1 all-time against Lafayette and will put a 10-game series winning streak on the line on Wednesday. Including a 0-0 draw in 2003, the Bison are unbeaten in their last 11 matchups with the Leopards. Lafayette's last win came in 2002 in Lewisburg by a 2-0 count.

Last year in Easton, a 62nd-minute header from Evelyn Nicinski was the difference in Bucknell's 1-0 victory. The Bison limited the Leopards to five total shots and just one on goal in that contest.

Holy Cross was the talk of the Patriot League after getting off to a terriifc 9-0-2 start, but the Crusaders have now dropped four straight to fall to 9-4-2 overall and 1-4-1 in Patriot League play. Holy Cross fell 2-0 at Navy on Friday, and it has conceded 10 goals during the four-game losing streak after allowing a total of only two in the first 11 matches.

The Crusaders feature the Patriot League's leading goal-scorer in freshman Aly Spencer, who has 10 to go along with three assists. Holy Cross has a 24-12 scoring margin on the season, and senior goalkeeper Carly McCabe has a stellar 0.78 goals-against average.

Like against Lafayette, Bucknell's recent track record against Holy Cross has been very successful. The Bison have beaten the Crusaders nine straight times and stand 17-5-2 all-time against them. Holy Cross' last series win was a 3-0 verdict in Lewisburg in 2004.

Last year at Emmitt Field, Bucknell won 2-0 on a cold, windy day. The Bison benefitted from a first-half own goal, and then Chelsey Garkowski scored off a Courtney Nelson assist in the 86th minute to close it out. Nelson also assisted on Nicinski's goal in Bucknell's 1-0 win over Holy Cross in 2012.

Despite the back-to-back shutout losses, Bucknell remains the fourth-highest-scoring team in the lead at 1.44 goals per game. The Bison have scored 23 goals and allowed 25 in 16 matches.

Freshman Kendall Ham continues to lead the team in scoring with 12 points from five goals and two assists. Nelson, Madison Loos and Maddie Mulford share the team lead with three assists apiece.

Bucknell has had terrific scoring balance this season, with 12 players recording at least one goal and 15 registering at least one assist. Navy has also had 12 players score this year, tying the Bison for the most in the league.

After this week, the Bison will have just one more regular-season contest remaining, a Senior Day affair with Boston University on Nov. 1 at Emmitt Field at noon.