Four Bison Named to All-PL Men's Soccer Team; Bucknell Visits Lehigh Tuesday

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Juniors Chris Thorsheim and Jesse Klug repeated as All-Patriot League selections, and senior co-captains Jonathan Grad and Brian Ward earned their first all-conference honors Monday on the eve of the start of the Patriot League Tournament. Thorsheim was a First Team All-PL honoree, Klug and Ward were Second Team picks, and Grad was named to the third team.

After playing 24th-ranked Boston University to a 1-1 draw on Saturday, the Bison wrapped up the regular season with a 4-3-2 conference record and will be the No. 5 seed for the Patriot League Tournament. Bucknell will start on the road at No. 4 Lehigh in a quarterfinal match Tuesday at 7 p.m. The contest will air live on the Patriot League Network.

Thorsheim earned an All-Patriot League nod for the third straight year. He was a Second Team choice as a freshman in 2012, and now he has made the First Team in each of the last two seasons. Thorsheim is Bucknell's sixth three-time All-Patriot League selection, joining Brendan Burgdorf, Conor O'Brien, Adam Edwards, Michael Lookingland and Bill Epley.

Thorsheim is one of the league's premier center midfielders, and this season he has three goals and five assists in 18 games. He recorded a goal and an assist in Bucknell's 2-1 overtime win over Army, and he also had a goal and an assist against Howard.

Klug is enjoying another productive season for the Orange & Blue. In 2013 he scored 10 goals en route to First Team All-Patriot League honors, and this year he has added nine more, the second-highest total in the league. Klug also has five assists, and his 23 points rank third in the conference. Klug now has 56 career points, which rank 10th in program history.

A Capital One Academic All-District selection this fall, Klug enters the postseason on a four-game point-scoring streak (3G, 1A). He tallied the second-half equalizer against Boston University on Saturday, and he has two five-point games this season, coming against Howard (1G, 3A) and Loyola (2G, 1A).

Ward debuts on the all-league squad as a Second Team defender. The dependable co-captain has started all 19 games this season and all 77 in his career. Recently Ward has played very well at center back, and at other times he has played left back and holding center midfield. For the second straight year he is leading the team in minutes played with 1,677, an average of 88.3 per game.

A Third Team All-Patriot League midfielder, Grad is enjoying his most productive offensive season at Bucknell. He has set career highs in goals (6), assists (5) and points (17), and he ranks sixth in the Patriot League in each of those categories. Grad scored the overtime game-winner in Bucknell's victory at Army this season, and he had a five-point night with two goals and an assist in a league win at Loyola.

Bucknell's four all-leaguers will be on the field in Bethlehem on Tuesday night, as the Bison will face Lehigh in the postseason for the first time since the 2006 Patriot League semifinals. Bucknell advanced in penalty kicks in that match, and then it defeated Lafayette in penalties two days later to win the league title.

The Bison and Mountain Hawks entered the final round of league play tied for fourth place. Lehigh won 2-1 at Holy Cross while Bucknell tied Boston University, giving the Mountain Hawks the home field for this 4 vs. 5 clash. Oddly, that might be an advantage for the Bison, as the visiting team has won the last seven games in this series.

Back on Oct. 4 at Emmitt Field in Lewisburg, Lehigh stunned the Bison 2-1 with two goals in the final 12 minutes. Klug put the Bison on the board just 3:29 into the match, and Bucknell protected that lead for nearly 70 minutes. But Doyle Tuvesson scored in the 73rd minute to tie it, and then with just 1:34 left in regulation Jamie Luchini sent in a 30-yard free kick that bounced untouched into the right side of the net.

That evened the all-time series between the two teams at 25-25-8 dating back to 1960. Bucknell won last year's matchup 3-0 in Bethlehem.

Lehigh is red-hot entering the tournament. The Mountain Hawks went 4-0-1 in their last five regular-season contests, including league wins over Army, Colgate and Holy Cross and a home draw with Navy. Lehigh is 10-7-1 overall, 5-3-1 against league foes and 5-2-1 at home this season.

Luchini, a Second Team All-Patriot League selection, leads the team in goals (6), assists (8) and points (20), and he has recorded a point in each of his last five games. Tuvesson has five goals and four assists on the year.

No. 3 American is hosting No. 6 Army on Tuesday in the other Patriot League quarterfinal match. The quarterfinal winners will advance to the semifinals on Friday. Top-seeded Boston University will host the lowest remaining seed in one semi, while No. 2 Navy will take on the other advancing side in Boston on Friday. The championship game will also be in Boston at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

All Patriot League Tournament contests can be seen on the Patriot League Network.