Bucknell University Athletics
Women's Lax Goes for 4th Straight PL Win Sunday vs. American (**SCHEDULE UPDATE**)
4/6/2016 4:58:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
**UPDATE** -- The Bucknell-American women's lacrosse game has been postponed until Sunday at 4 p.m. due to the forecast of snow and freezing temperatures.
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell women's lacrosse team looks to continue its turnaround season and take another step toward a postseason berth when it hosts American on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Graham Field on the Patriot League Network. The Bison are 9-3 overall and 3-1 in the Patriot League, and on Sunday they will be aiming for a fourth conference win for just the third time in program history.
Bucknell has won three straight over Army West Point (19-9), Lafayette (13-12) and Holy Cross (10-9). The team's last four-game winning streak came in March of 2007. The Bison finished 4-2 in Patriot League play in 2004 and 2009, and those are the only seasons in which they collected as many as four conference wins.
Bucknell already has seven more overall victories than all of last season, and as many league wins as in the previous six years combined. The +7 win total over 2015 is by far the most in the country. In order to build on that, the Bison will have to do so against an American squad that is 4-9 overall and 1-4 in the Patriot League but is coming off a strong performance in a 15-12 victory over Lafayette.
The Bison continue to pour in plenty of goals. They have reached double digits on the scoreboard in eight of their 12 games this season and are currently the 10th-highest scoring team in the nation with an average of 13.7 goals per game.
The current team record for scoring average is 12.9 goals per game, set in 2008. The record for total goals in a season is 190, set by the 2012 squad. This year's group has 164, with five players already topping the 20-goal plateau. Emily Becker (29), Maddy Molinari (27), Gretchen Richter (27) and Eve Lukowski (24) all rank in the top 10 in the Patriot League in goals.
Of those 164 goals, 113 have been assisted, and the Bison continue to lead the country in assists per game (9.4) by a significant margin. Notre Dame is next at 8.1. Lukowski and Christina Manis both have 25 assists, which are tied for the most in the Patriot League and 11th-most in the nation.
The 25 assists also rank fourth on Bucknell's single-season chart. Carol Donohue holds the record with 36 assists in 2008. Manis now has 50 career assists, which is tied for fourth-most in school history, even though she is still just a junior.
Richter on Monday was named Patriot League Midfielder of the Week for the second week in a row and third time in the last five weeks. She scored the tiebreaking goal against Holy Cross with 1:41 to go and also continued her stellar work in the draw circle. Richter has a league-high 52 draw controls on the season, fourth most on Bucknell's single-season list. She smashed the school record with 84 draw controls as a freshman last season, and her career total of 136 puts her in the No. 4 spot all-time.
Defensively, the Bison have come up with some timely stops in critical situations in the two recent one-goal victories over Lafayette and Holy Cross. Annie Gilbertson continues to lead the team in caused turnovers (19) and ground balls (27), and she ranks in the top 10 in the Patriot League in both categories.
Freshman goalie Jamie DeWitt ranks fourth in the Patriot League in save percentage (.459) and goals-against average (9.52).
American snapped a six-game losing streak with its win over Lafayette last Saturday in Washington, D.C. Olivia Mangan had four goals and four assists, and Jennifer DeSimone added four goals and two assists to lead the Eagles. For the season, Mangan has a team-high 36 points on 17 goals and 19 assists. DeSimone has a team-high 29 goals for a team that averages 8.2 goals per game.
Like Bucknell, the Eagles also start a freshman goalie in Fiona Geier. She has a .392 save percentage and an 11.58 GAA while playing every minute in goal this season.
Bucknell is 6-15 all-time against American, with its last win over the Eagles coming in the last meeting at Graham Field in 2014. The Bison won that one 11-10 thanks to a big save from goalie Elizabeth Duswalt with three seconds left in the game.
The Eagles turned the tables last season, winning 16-6 in D.C. behind five goals each from Jessica Wojciechowski and Terese Buechli. Sam Rickels and Sarah Galzerano scored twice each for the Bison.
At 3-1 in Patriot League play, Bucknell enters the weekend in a tie for second place with Lehigh, one game behind 4-0 Loyola. Boston University is 3-2, followed by Navy, Colgate and Holy Cross at 2-2.
Following the American game, Bucknell travels to Colgate, hosts Loyola and Navy, and then finishes the regular season at Lehigh on Apr. 29. The top six teams qualify for the Patriot League Tournament, which begins with a pair of quarterfinal contests on May 3. The Bison are trying to reach the postseason for the first time since 2009.
