Bucknell University Athletics
Kellar, Sands, Dickson Earn Weekly Honors as Bison Lax Preps for Home Playoff Game
4/20/2015 2:26:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
Note: Tickets to the Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Tournament quarterfinal game at Bucknell will be $4 for adults, $2 for children and seniors, and free for Bucknell and Lehigh students with school ID. Tickets can be purchased at the door, and they are also available ONLINE through the Campus Box Office.
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Seniors Ben Kellar and David Dickson along with freshman Will Sands all earned weekly honors on Monday in the wake of the Bucknell men's lacrosse team's thrilling overtime victory over 16th-ranked Loyola Maryland over the weekend. The 10-9 win in the regular-season finale helped secure the No. 3 seed for the Patriot League Tournament, which means the Bison will get to play at home on Tuesday night against sixth-seeded Lehigh at 7 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The game will be streamed live on Bison Vision on the Patriot League Network.
Kellar was named Corvias Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week, Sands was selected as the Corvias Patriot League Rookie of the Week, and Dickson was picked as the 5th Quarter Fresh Bison Athlete of the Week. All played starring roles in dramatic come-from-behind victory over Loyola on Friday night, a victory that propelled the team into the No. 20 spot in this week's Cascade/Maverik Media Poll.
The Bison trailed 7-4 at the start of the fourth quarter and 9-7 inside two minutes remaining in regulation. Dickson had a hand in three of Bucknell's six goals scored in the fourth quarter and overtime, including the assist on the Sean Doyle game-winner 45 seconds into extra time. He finished with a goal and four assists in the game, and he climbed up to the No. 3 spot in Patriot League history with 126 career assists.
That overtime goal might not have been possible without Sands and Kellar. Sands took a terrific back-door feed from Ryan Joseph and scored the tying goal with just 24 seconds left in regulation. That capped a hat trick for Sands, who now has 11 goals in his last three games and 23 on the season. He leads the team with 37 points on 23 goals and 14 assists.
At the start of overtime, Loyola took possession after a long scrum on the faceoff, and midfielder Tyler Albrecht appeared to have space to shoot or pass to an open attackman near the crease. But before Albrecht could act, Kellar came from behind and picked his pocket. Kellar took the ball away and sprinted all the way into the Loyola zone. After a timeout, Dickson found Doyle all alone five yards from goal, and Doyle buried the game-winning goal.
Kellar earned his first PL Defensive Player of the Week award, and the first by a Bison this season, while Sands captured his third Rookie of the Week honor of the year.
The victory over Loyola improved Bucknell's season record to 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the Patriot League. The Bison finished in a two-way tie with Loyola for third place, and Bison nabbed the No. 3 seed based on the head-to-head victory.
Navy and Colgate tied for first place at 6-2, and both receive byes into the semifinals. Navy defeated the Raiders during the regular season, and thus will be the No. 1 seed and host the semifinals and championship game next Friday and Sunday on CBS Sports Network.
Bucknell and Lehigh met all the way back on March 7 in Bethlehem, and the Bison won another thriller there, 9-8 in overtime on Joseph's sudden-death goal. That helped them snap a four-game losing streak to the Mountain Hawks. The Bison now lead the all-time series 34-14.
The last time the two teams met in the postseason, Lehigh won 11-5 in the 2013 Patriot League championship game. Two years earlier, the Bison beat the Mountain Hawks 13-5 in the semifinals en route to the championship.
In order to earn the sixth and final spot in the Patriot League Tournament, Lehigh (7-8, 3-5) had to defeat arch-rival Lafayette and hope that Holy Cross defeated Boston University, and both happened on Friday. The Mountain Hawks rallied late to win 11-10. After starting the year 2-7, Lehigh has won five of its last six games, including back-to-back wins over ranked teams in Princeton and Stony Brook just before the Lafayette victory.
With a victory over Lehigh, Bucknell would advance to play second-seeded Colgate in the semifinals on Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium.
