Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Soccer Closes Regular Season with Senior Day Bout vs. No. 24 Boston University
11/6/2014 6:01:00 PM | Men's Soccer
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- There will be plenty of storylines at work on Saturday evening when the Bucknell men's soccer team welcomes 24th-ranked Boston University to Emmitt Field for the first time. The Bison will honor their six seniors prior to the 5:30 p.m. game, and then they will set out to knock off the Patriot League's first-place team and look to secure a home playoff game.
At 11-3-3 overall and 6-0-2 in the Patriot League, the Terriers have already locked up the No. 1 seed and the right to host the semifinals and championship game of next week's Patriot League Tournament. In fact, the entire six-team tournament field is set, but there is still seeding to be worked out as the regular season concludes this weekend.
With 17 points, Navy is assured of the No. 2 seed and the other quarterfinal bye. American (14 points), Lehigh (13), Bucknell (13) and Army (11) will all be playing quarterfinal games on Tuesday. The teams finishing in third and fourth place will host those contests, so there is plenty on the line for those four sides this weekend.
Army and Navy will play at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania -- the home of the MLL's Philadelphia Union -- on Friday night. On Saturday, Colgate plays at American at noon and Lehigh is at Holy Cross at 5 p.m. Looking at potential tiebreakers, Lehigh and American defeated Bucknell earlier this season, while the Bison hold a win over Army.
Boston Univeristy is the hottest team in the league, having lost only once after Sept. 7, and that was a mid-week road game at Boston College. Most recently, the Terriers played to a scoreless tie with American in Boston last Saturday. Boston University also drew Loyola, and its six league wins have come by a 12-2 margin.
For the season, Boston University has outscored opponents 25-12. Senior Dominique Badji leads the team with seven goals, while David Amirani has four. Bjarki Benediktsson, a freshman from Iceland, has a team-high five assists. Nick Thomson has played every minute in goal for the Terriers and has eight shutouts and a league-best .833 save percentage.
These two teams met for the very first time last season, when the Terriers were a first-year member of the Patriot League. In the final regular-season contest at Nickerson Field, Chris Thorsheim scored in overtime to lift 10-man Bucknell to a 1-0 victory. Those were a critical three points for the Bison, as it earned them a quarterfinal home game, in which they would go on to defeat American 3-1.
This year's edition of the Bison (8-9-1, 4-3-1 PL) earned all six points from two games last week to lock up a postseason bid. Bucknell blanked Lafayette 2-0 on goals from Mark Leibensperger and Jesse Klug, and then the Bison topped Holy Cross 1-0 in Worcester on Saturday on a Jonathan Grad tap-in in the 79th minute.
Bucknell features three of the Patriot League's top-10 point-producers. Klug continues to lead the team in goals (8), assists (5) and points (21), and he ranks third in the Patriot League in goals and points and first in shots taken (82). The junior forward has attempted one-third of the team's shots this season.
Grad, who will be one of the six seniors honored prior to the game, has already set career highs in goals (6), assists (4) and points (16). He ranks sixth in the league in both goals and points. Thorsheim ranks 10th in the PL with his 11 points, coming from three goals and five assists.
Bucknell's defense was rock solid last week, yielding a total of only 15 shots to Holy Cross (6) and Lafayette (9). The back four of freshman Dan Bank, junior Zack Rockmore and seniors Brian Ward and Mark Leibensperger have been strong in front of junior Clarke Fox, who was named the Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week on Monday after posting back-to-back shutouts over Lafayette and Holy Cross.
The Bison have also benefitted from the return from injury of freshman defensive midfielder Jack Zollicoffer, who combines with sophomore Sebastiaan Blickman and junior Connor Willings to provide strong support in front of the back four.
Grad, Leibensperger, Ward, Rafael Enriquez-Hesles, John Miller and Pat Plourde are the six seniors playing in their final regular-season home game on Saturday.
