Men’s Soccer Scores Twice in First Half, Beats Mount St. Mary’s 2-0 in Season Opener

Friday, August 24

Emmitsburg, Md.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

1-0

Mount St. Mary's - MD

0-1

Bucknell

Mount St. Mary's

Men’s Soccer Scores Twice in First Half, Beats Mount St. Mary’s 2-0 in Season Opener

8/24/2018 9:12:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

EMMITSBURG, Md. – Senior captain Tyler Peterson scored Bucknell's first goal of the season, then he spearheaded a strong defensive effort from his center back position as the Bison opened the 2018 campaign with a 2-0 victory over Mount St. Mary's before a capacity crowd at Waldron Family Stadium on Friday night.

Peterson cashed in on a corner kick in the 29^th minute, and just 1:40 later the Bison went on top 2-0 when freshman Jacob Mittman, just seconds into his first collegiate shift, beat a defender to the end line and saw his centering feed deflect off Mount defender Bilal Hassane for an own goal.

Head coach Brendan Nash used 18 players in the game, including five freshmen making their debuts. Alex Clarke was a starting midfielder, and Mittman, Adam Kulick, Patrick O'Hara and Michael Pavick all saw time off the bench.

"It was important for us to get the season started on the right foot," said Nash. "We had been 2-6-2 in our last 10 season openers, so even though we were far from our best tonight, it feels good to walk away with a win. It was not a particularly pretty game, but we did what we needed to do."

Bucknell earned six corner kicks and a number of free kicks from dangerous areas in the first half. Bobby Edwards made a diving save on a Trevor Wiggins header about 25 minutes in, and not long after the Bison cashed in on another corner. King's inswinger got over the head of Edwards inside the six-yard box, and Wiggins and Peterson both got touches on the ball to send it over the line. It was Peterson's second career goal.

Mittman's good work on the left flank made it 2-0 just moments later. He had Pavick streaking to the front of the goal, but his feed deflected off the Mount St. Mary's defender before it could reach Pavick.

Bucknell outshot the Mountaineers 7-2 in a dominant first half. The Mount evened up the shot total in the second half as the Bison protected their two-goal cushion, but veteran center backs Peterson and Quinn Bredin keyed an airtight defense that limited Mount St. Mary's to nine total shots and just two on goal. Goalkeeper Ryan Ott was called upon for two routine saves en route to the shutout.

Bucknell now has nine days off before traveling to Saint Francis (Pa.) on Sept. 2.