Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Soccer Set for Busy Week of Patriot League Action
10/28/2014 11:42:00 AM | Men's Soccer
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- Live Stats: Lafayette | Holy Cross
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell men's soccer team needs to start piling up some points to solidify its postseason position, and it will have two chances to do so this week with a pair of Patriot League encounters on the schedule. The Bison will host Lafayette on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and then travel to Holy Cross for a 1 p.m. contest on Saturday. Both games will appear live on the Patriot League Network.
As this busy week begins, the middle of the Patriot League table is a jumbled mess, with only four points separating third place from ninth. While Boston University (16 points) and Navy (15) have gained some separation at the top, American (10), Lehigh (9), Bucknell (7), Army (7), Loyola (7), Colgate (7) and Holy Cross (6) are all in a dogfight for the remaining four spots. Even last-place Lafayette (3) is still in the postseason hunt with three league games to play.
Bucknell is 6-9-1 overall and 2-3-1 in the Patriot League. The Bison will be looking to shake a four-game winless drought (0-3-1), although they did get a road draw at Colgate in their most recent outing on Saturday. Jesse Klug scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season -- and the 20th of his career -- early in the second half, but the Raiders tied it on an own-goal late in regulation.
Klug's seven goals are third-most in the Patriot League, trailing only Colgate's Ethan Kulter with 11 and Navy's Jamie Dubyoski with nine. Klug also ranks third in the league in points with 18. Jonathan Grad ranks fifth in the league in goals (5) and sixth in points (14). Chris Thorsheim has 10 points from three goals and four assists.
The Bison will be looking to get the offense going again over these final three regular-season games. After pumping in four goals in a big road PL win at Loyola, the team has scored just two in four games since then.
On Wednesday Bucknell will host a Lafayette team that has given up 18 goals and scored 14 in 15 games this season. The Leopards are 5-8-2 overall and 1-5-0 in the Patriot League, with their lone league win a 2-0 decision over arch-rival Lehigh. Seven of Lafayette's eight losses have come by one goal, and four of those were decided in overtime, including Saturday's 2-1 loss to American.
Eric West has a team-high five goals, while Greg Biggiani and Ryan Egan have two each. Sandy Leavy has started 13 games in goal and has five shutouts and a 1.10 goals-against average.
This will be the 66th meeting between the Bison and Leopards in a series that dates back to 1931. Bucknell has a narrow 30-28-7 lead in the series, including a 3-0 win in Easton last season that stopped a three-game losing streak to Lafayette.
In last year's affair, Klug had a hand in all three Bucknell goals. He assisted on Josh Butzke's goal in the 27th minute, he scored himself in the 50th, and then set up Grad's strike in the 55th. Mike Lansing earned the shutout with four saves.
Holy Cross (5-7-2, 2-4-0 PL) enters the week looking to shake a three-game losing streak, and the Crusaders travel to Army on Wednesday before the Bison come to town on Saturday. Holy Cross scored 68 seconds into its match at Navy on Saturday, but the Midshipmen rallied for a 2-1 victory.
The Crusaders have struggled to keep the ball out of their net in recent games, allowing multiple goals in five of their last six outings. But Holy Cross has also scored at a good pace with 20 goals in its 14 games this season.
Joey DeVivo has five of those scores. Arno Rupp has three goals and three assists, and Justin Carfora has two goals and a team-high five assists. Kevin Wright has started every game in goal and has a 1.56 goals-against average and two shutouts.
Bucknell is 10-9-5 all-time against Holy Cross, including a 3-0-2 ledger in the last five meetings. Last season at Emmitt Field, the Bison celebrated Senior Day with a 3-1 win over the Crusaders. One of those seniors, Mayowa Alli, joined Grad and Klug in the scoring column.
After this week, the Bison will have just one more regular-season game to play. That will be this year's Senior Day on Nov. 8 against Boston University.
