Seniors Carry Bucknell Field Hockey Past Lafayette, 4-1

Saturday, October 27

Lewisburg, Pa.

2:00 PM

Bucknell University

(9-7, 4-2PL)

Lafayette

(8-10,4-2PL)

Lafayette

Bucknell

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Seniors Carry Bucknell Field Hockey Past Lafayette, 4-1

10/27/2018 4:47:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

Bison will be seeded No. 3 at Patriot League Tournament

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell received four goals from four different seniors, and junior Brittany Willwerth tied a school record with three assists, propelling the Bison to a 4-1 win over Lafayette in the final Patriot League game of the regular-season on Saturday afternoon at rain-soaked Graham Field.

Katie Mannino, Lexi Quick, M.C. Evans, and Sally Olson all scored for the Bison, who improved to 9-7 overall and 4-2 in Patriot League play. This result, combined with American's win over Colgate earlier in the day, creates a three-way tie for second place between Bucknell, Lafayette and American. After resolving the tiebreaker, American will be seeded second, Bucknell third, and Lafayette fourth at next week's Patriot League Tournament. Top-seeded Boston University (6-0) will host the tournament.

Lafayette (8-10, 4-2 PL) had won six of its last seven entering the day, including a 3-1 win over American last week, but the Bison scored the first three goals in this one to improve to 6-2 at home this season.

Bucknell had the game's first good look in the 20th minute when Willwerth broke loose behind the Lafayette defense, but her reverse-stick attempt was blocked by a sliding goalkeeper Sarah Park. But the game remained scoreless for only a few more moments, as Mannino opened the scoring at the 21:02 mark. Nicole Rupnik and Marisa Morakis combined for a takeaway at the top of the Lafayette circle. Morakis nudged the ball forward to Willwerth, who fed Mannino for her fourth goal of the season.

The Bison took the 1-0 lead into the halftime break, then opened up a three-goal margin with a pair of scores less than five minutes apart. In the 41st minute, Willwerth inserted a penalty corner directly to Quick on the left flank, and Quick fired it through the pads of Park for her seventh goal of the year, matching Willwerth for the team lead.

Bison goalie Olivia Harris was called upon for her best save of the night to keep it 2-0, and then Bucknell capitalized on a Leopards miscue on a penalty corner and executed a terrific counter-attack. The Lafayette corner eluded the stopper at the top of the arc, and Mackenzie Haney gathered the loose ball. She fed Claire Lesher, who played a long ball forward to Emily Doyle. The Bison rookie laid off a pass to Evans, who cut in from the left side and slipped a shot past Park for a 3-0 cushion.

The Leopards got one back in the 57th minute on a sharp-angle shot from Grace Angelella. Lafayette pulled its goalie with about five minutes to play, but Bucknell kept the ball in the Leopards end of the field for most of that late stretch. Olson fired home one last bullet on a penalty corner with 50 seconds to go to make it a 4-1 final.

Bucknell scored on two of its three penalty corner attempts while holding Lafayette to 0-for-7 at the other end. Harris made four saves for the Bison, while Park stopped two for the Leopards.

Willwerth registered the 11th three-assist game in team history and the first since Kelsey Mucelli in 2012.

Bucknell and American will meet in a Patriot League Tournament semifinal game next Friday, Nov. 2 in Boston, but first the Bison have one more regular-season contest coming up on Sunday against Appalachian State at 1 p.m. It will be Senior Day at Graham Field, with the team's seven seniors receiving recognition prior to the contest.