Bucknell University Athletics
Women's Lacrosse Meets Army West Point for First Time Saturday
3/24/2016 3:14:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- This is the inaugural season for the Army West Point women's lacrosse team, and the Black Knights make their very first trip to Graham Field to face Bucknell this Saturday. The 1 p.m. contest will be webcast on the Patriot League Network.
Both squads come in with 0-1 Patriot League records. Bucknell saw its overall three-game winning streak snapped with a 17-7 loss at Boston University on Saturday, while Army West Point fell 17-4 at home to Lafayette in its initial conference game.
Despite the losses in their conference openers, both teams come in with winning overall records. The Bison are 6-3 and already have their most wins in a season since 2009. Last Wednesday they knocked off defending Big South champion Winthrop, which was 8-1 at the time, by a 9-6 count.
Meanwhile, Army West Point is 5-4 after Tuesday's 20-8 rout of Howard in a non-conference game at Michie Stadium. The Black Knights' other wins have come against Central Connecticut, LIU Brooklyn, UMass-Lowell and Presbyterian. Two of their losses -- to Manhattan and Winthrop -- are against teams that Bucknell has beaten this season.
Bucknell led the country in scoring after its 21-12 win over Saint Francis (Pa.) on March 12, but the Bison have cooled off a bit, with single-digit goals in each of the last three games. They did win two of those, however -- 6-5 over Wagner and 9-6 over Winthrop -- thanks to solid defense and goaltending.
Bucknell still ranks ninth nationally and first in the Patriot League in scoring offense at 13.6 goals per game, and the Bison continue to lead the country in assists with 8.9 per game. The Bison also lead the league and ranks ninth nationally in draw controls with 14.2 per game.
Eve Lukowski continues to lead the team in scoring with 40 points on 21 goals and 19 assists. She ranks second in the Patriot League in points per game and third in assists per game.
Other top scorers include Maddy Molinari (23-10-33), Christina Manis (14-17-31), Emily Becker (20-6-26), Gretchen Richter (14-8-22), Ally Furbay (11-4-15) and Sam Rickels (6-6-12).
Molinari (4th), Lukowski (7th) and Becker (8th) all rank in the top 10 in the Patriot League in goals per game. Lukowski, Manis, Molinari and Richter rank 3-4-10-12 in the league in assists per game. Lukowski, Molinari, Manis and Becker rank 2-4-5-9 in points per game.
Richer leads the team and ranks fourth in the conference in draw controls with 31, and defender Annie Gilbertson is second in the PL in ground balls with 25.
Freshman goalie Jamie DeWitt now has a .457 save percentage and a 9.34 goals-against average. She has 64 saves in the nine games, and she ranks third in the league in save percentage.
Army West Point has outscored its opponents 87-85 in nine games. The Black Knights lead the Patriot League in shooting percentage (.512). Amy Johnston has been the team's top scorer thus far with 31 points on 19 goals and 12 assists. Rachel Hornick (16) and Nikki Polhamus (13) are also double-digit goal-scorers. Johnston leads the way with 34 draw controls.
Kayla Rowley has started all nine games in goal for the Black Knights and has a .379 save percentage and a 9.48 goals-against average.
Following Saturday's game, the Bison go to Lafayette on Wednesday night before returning home the following Saturday to face Holy Cross at 1 p.m.
