Bucknell University Athletics
Postseason Run Comes to an End for Men's Soccer with 2-0 Loss at UNCW
11/20/2014 9:55:00 PM | Men's Soccer
WILMINGTON, N.C. – The men's soccer team saw its seven-game unbeaten streak snapped and its great postseason run come to an end with a 2-0 loss at UNCW in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night. The Bison defense held strong against a fast-paced Seahawks' attack for 66 minutes before giving up two goals in less than two minutes midway through the second half.
The Bison, who had gone 4-0-3 in their previous seven games and had won three games in six days to take the Patriot League title, closed the season at 10-10-3. The Seahawks, who beat four top-25 teams during the regular season, improved to 13-4-2 and will play at Virginia in the second round.
Kalvin Kromer broke a scoreless tie with less than 24 minutes left in the game, scoring off a feed from Michael Mecham. Just 1:16 later, Daniel Escobar, who had entered the game for the first time only minutes earlier, made it 2-0 off an assist by Colin Bonner.
Prior to the two goals Bucknell goaltender Clarke Fox faced an onslaught of shots, but continued to keep the Bison in the game with some impressive stops. He finished with eight saves.
The Seahawks controlled the entire first half, finishing with a 9-1 advantage in shots, including numerous that nearly gave them the lead, but the Bison defense refused to give in despite losing starting defender Zack Rockmore to an injury in the 29th minute.
“We knew we were playing a quality opponent and they showed it,” Bucknell head coach Brendan Nash said. “It was tough luck for us to have one of our stalwarts on defense go down with an injury, but I don't know if that would have affected the end result because they really put us under a lot of pressure.”
Fox kept UNCW from getting on the board early. He made a leaping save to deflect a ball over the goal nine minutes into the game, and kept the game scoreless with a save on a shot right in front of the goal four minutes later.
Still just 15 minutes into the game, Fox made two more saves in a span of a minute. He stopped a one-on-one shot coming from right of the near post that resulted in a corner, and then jumped to make another save on a deep shot after the ball was kicked back toward midfield following the corner kick.
UNCW continued to put pressure on in the first half with just over 18 minutes to play. The Seahawks' David Sizemore delivered a strike that glanced off a Bucknell player and off the left post.
The Seahawks came out in similar fashion in the second half, including a header off the crossbar in the opening minute. But Fox and the Bison kept the game tied until they finally broke loose with the two scores.
“I told our guys this is disappointing, but they played well and they can't take the Patriot League championship away from us,” Nash said. “We're going to focus on the positives tonight, which is they were pretty resilient at the end of the year, including tonight's game. I'm proud of them.”
The Bison were making their seventh NCAA appearance and their fourth in nine years. They fell to 3-7 all-time in NCAA games.
