Bucknell University Athletics
Orange-Out Declared as Bison Men's Soccer Hosts No. 4 Penn State Wednesday Night
9/30/2014 6:11:00 PM | Men's Soccer
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- An "Orange Out" has been declared on Wednesday when the Bucknell men's soccer team hosts fourth-ranked Penn State at 7 p.m. at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. Bison fans are encouraged to wear orange to the contest, which will air live on NSCAATV.com as the NSCAA National Game of the Week.
Admission is free, and the first 250 fans will receive free tee shirts.
The 8-0-1 Nittany Lions will arrive in Lewisburg as the highest-ranked team ever to play on Emmitt Field. Both teams are coming off road conference wins. Now 5-4 on the season, the Bison opened up Patriot League play with a big 2-1 overtime victory at Army, while the Nittany Lions topped Michigan 1-0 on Sunday in Ann Arbor.
Bucknell and Penn State first met all the way back in 1930, and since then these two teams have squared off 71 times. The Nittany Lions lead the series 59-8-4. Although Penn State has had the better of the all-time matchup, Bucknell wiped out about three decades of frustration against the Nittany Lions in 2008 when they won 2-0 in State College. The Nittany Lions had won 25 head-to-head meetings in a row prior to Bucknell's 2008 win at the Penn State Classic. Bucknell's last win prior to 2008 was a 2-0 decision in Lewisburg on Oct. 14, 1975.
Since that 2008 meeting, the series has been dead even, with both teams winning twice along with a 0-0 draw at Emmitt Field in 2011. In the most recent meeting in 2012, the Nittany Lions won a 2-1 thriller at Jeffrey Field. Just 48 seconds after then-freshman Jesse Klug was robbed on a breakaway, Penn State's Marvin Ledgister scored the go-ahead goal at the other end with just 2:47 remaining in the game.
The Bucknell-Penn State game will feature two of the top defensive sides statistically in Division I soccer. Penn State ranks fourth nationally in team goals-against average at 0.33. The Nittany Lions' three goals allowed ranks them behind only Syracuse, Michigan State and George Mason, who have allowed only one goal each thus far (Bucknell will play Syracuse later this year). Meanwhile, the Bison rank 24th nationally out of 200 teams with a 0.66 team GAA.
Two of Penn State's three goals against came in a 6-2 rout of Penn last Wednesday. The Lions' only blemish so far a 1-1 draw at James Madison on Sept. 8, and all of their other games have been shutout wins over Oakland, St. John's, Temple, Indiana, Saint Francis (Pa.), Ohio State and Michigan.
Penn State features the Big Ten's leading scorer in Connor Maloney, who has 16 points on seven goals and two assists. Maloney had the game-winner at Michigan and also scored twice against Penn, and he is this week's Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week. Mikey Minutillo (4-4-12) and Brian James (0-5-5) are other top point-producers for the Nittany Lions, who have outscored opponents 18-3 on the year. Reigning Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Andrew Wolverton, who started in goal against Bucknell in the last meeting in 2012, is 7-0 with a miniscule 0.26 goals-against average in eight starts. That is the fourth-best GAA in the nation.
Bucknell got out to a great start in Patriot League play with a 2-1 overtime win over Army on Saturday night at West Point's Clinton Field. Jonathan Grad headed in a free-kick from Chris Thorsheim just 2:14 into the first OT period. Thorsheim also scored the equalizing goal on a penalty kick in the 62nd minute. The PK came after Jesse Klug was taken down in the box, and it came just 2:16 after Justin Kim had put the Black Knights on the scoreboard first.
The Bison snapped a three-game series losing streak against Army, which was tabbed as one of the Patriot League favorites this season after going 12-3-3 overall and 6-2-1 in the league in 2013.
Klug, Thorsheim and Grad share the team goal-scoring lead with three apiece. Klug and Thorsheim also have three assists, giving them a team-high nine points, while Grad has two assists and eight points. Patrick Figgie (2), Justin Galiani and Pat Plourde have also entered the goal-scoring column, as Bucknell has outscored its opponents 13-6 on the season.
Junior keepers Mike Lansing and Clarke Fox have split the goalkeeping duties fairly evenly thus far. Lansing has started five of the nine games, including the Patriot League opener at Army. He has a .778 save percentage and a 0.77 goals-against average. Fox has made four starts and leads the Patriot League with a 0.52 GAA.
As a team, Bucknell is only allowing opponents to get 9.2 shots per game, meaning Lansing and Fox have only been called upon to make a combined 24 saves this season.
The Penn State game is not the only huge contest on Bucknell's schedule this week. The Bison will host Lehigh on Saturday night in a battle of teams off to 1-0 starts in Patriot League play. The Mountain Hawks dealt No. 14 American a 2-1 defeat in Bethlehem on Saturday. Brian Vail scored both Lehigh goals, including the tiebreaker in the 88th minute.
Lehigh, which does not have a mid-week game prior to coming to Lewisburg, is 5-3 overall this season. The Mountain Hawks have outscored foes 9-8, with three of the goals coming from Jamie Luchini.
This has been a hotly contested rivalry through the years, with Bucknell holding a narrow 25-24-8 lead in a series that dates back to 1960.
Due to a scheduling quirk the Bison had to travel to Lehigh in each of the past two seasons, but they won them both, 1-0 in 2012 and 3-0 last season. In last year's match, Connor Willings scored one of two Bison goals in the opening 14 minutes, and Chris Thorsheim scored on a penalty kick in the second half to close out the 3-0 win. Klug scored early in the second half in the 1-0 win in 2012.
Lehigh has won the last two games played at Emmitt Field, including a 1-0, double-overtime decision in 2011.
Bucknell and Lehigh have met four times in the Patriot League Tournament. Lehigh won 1-0 in 2000 and 2-0 in 2003. In 2004 and 2006 the two teams were tied after 110 minutes and went to penalty kicks. Lehigh prevailed in PKs in 2004, but the Bison upset the then-14th-ranked and top-seeded Mountain Hawks in the semifinals two years later.
The Bucknell-Lehigh game will be webcast live on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network.
