Bucknell University Athletics
Men's Lacrosse Heads to West Point Saturday for Key PL Clash with No. 20 Army
3/27/2014 5:34:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Two teams that have played good lacrosse over the last two weeks will square off on Saturday when Bucknell travels to No. 20 Army in a key Patriot League clash at noon at Michie Stadium. The game will be streamed live at GoArmySports.com (subscription fees apply).
The Bison (5-4, 3-2 PL) have won three in a row, outscoring foes 38-19 over that span. Army (5-3, 3-1 PL) has entered the national rankings this week after winning two of its last three, including a big 6-5 win over Lehigh last weekend. The Black Knights' lone loss in that recent stretch was a 7-6 road setback at Loyola, which is now ranked No. 1 in the country.
The top six teams qualify for the Patriot League Tournament this year, and both Bucknell and Army are firmly entrenched in the top six, but seeding will be critical and both teams are aiming to move up in the standings. Bucknell and Army almost always play close games. In the 20 meetings since 1999, 13 of the games have been decided by one goal, four by two goals and the other three by three goals. Bucknell won both meetings with Army last season, including a 9-8 win at West Point in the regular season and a 12-9 decision in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. Army leads the overall series 26-12.
On March 15 Bucknell came out on the wrong end of a 20-4 decision at No. 5/6 North Carolina. That loss was the team's third in a row and dropped the Bison to 2-4 on the season. Since then it has been a different story, however, as Bucknell has blitzed Holy Cross (18-8), Brown (13-8) and Boston University (7-3) in its last three games.
Improved offensive efficiency and outstanding defense and goaltending have carried the Bison in the last three games. In that stretch the Bison have doubled their opponents' scoring total (38-19), they have a 130-102 shot advantage and they are a stellar 5-for-6 with a man advantage.
Defensively, Bucknell has held its last three opponents to a .186 shooting percentage, with goalie Sam Grinberg playing to an outstanding .667 save percentage while averaging 12.7 saves per game. The Bison defense has also produced 56 turnovers in the last three games, with 41 of them caused turnovers.
Led by Preseason All-America defenseman Jackson Place, the defense is allowing only 8.8 goals per game, the 12th-best figure in the country. Place has been sensational this year, and he currently ranks No. 1 in the nation in caused turnovers with 3.13 per game.
The Bison have been strong so far when it comes to taking care of the ball. They rank eighth nationally in fewest turnovers per game (12.2) and 27th in clearing efficiency (.870). On the other hand, Bucknell ranks near the bottom of the national rankings in faceoff percentage (64th, .335) and ground balls per game (58th, 25.3). The Bison have outshot seven of their nine opponents so far, but they have also lost the FO battle in all nine games and the GB battle in 8 of 9.
Last Saturday the Bison trailed Boston University 3-2 early in the second quarter, and then shut out the Terriers for the final 43 minutes of the contest. Bucknell scored the final five goals of the day and won 7-3. Grinberg had a big day, fishing with 13 saves. Eight of those came in the second half, when the Bison did not allow a single goal. Grinberg earned Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week for his efforts.
Bucknell started two freshman on defense in Mike Schiappa and Evan Bernstein. Schiappa recorded six ground balls and Bernstein had two caused turnovers. The third member of the close defense trio, junior Ben Kellar, had four caused turnovers and three ground balls. Long-stick defensive midfielder Alex Spring earned Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors after tallying three caused turnovers and six ground balls. He also had nine GBs in the previous game against Brown.
David Dickson (2-1-3), Quinn Collison (2-1-3) and Brock Ghelfi (1-2-3) all had three-point games. Collison, a freshman attackman, recorded the first three points of his career, and both of his goals came on a key EMO late in the first half.
Sophomore attackman Sean Doyle leads the team in scoring with 27 points on 14 goals and 13 assists. Senior Todd Heritage has a team-high 15 goals.
John Glesener (19-8-27) and Will Mazzone (10-10-20) are Army's top scorers, but the Black Knights have been best-known for their defense this season. Army leads the nation in scoring defense at a paltry 5.5 goals per game, and goalie Sam Somers ranks No. 1 nationally in goals-against average (5.36) and No. 3 in save percentage (.617). The Black Knights also boast an outstanding faceoff man in Alex Daly, who has won 59.9 percent of his draws this season.
Bucknell will battle another ranked team when it travels to No. 16/18 Fairfield on Tuesday. Please note that the time of that game has been changed to 1 p.m. The Stags are 6-2 on the season and have scored 11 or more goals in all but one game so far. Fairfield travles to Bellarmine on Saturday before hosting Bucknell.
