Women's Soccer Hosts Towson, Visits Saint Francis (Pa.) this Weekend

Friday, August 31

Lewisburg, Pa.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

Towson

Photo by: Phil Inglis

Women's Soccer Hosts Towson, Visits Saint Francis (Pa.) this Weekend

8/30/2018 9:41:00 AM | Women's Soccer

Setting the Scene, Part 1
Who: Towson (0-3-1) at Bucknell (1-3)
When: Friday, Aug. 31, 7 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Live Webcast: Patriot League Network
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

Setting the Scene, Part 2
Who: Bucknell (1-3) at Saint Francis (Pa.) (1-2-1)
When: Sunday, Sept. 2, 4 p.m.
Where: Stokes Soccerplex, Loretto, Pa.
Live Webstream: NEC Front Row
Live Stats: SFUAthletics.com

About the Bison

After dropping a pair of hard-fought 1-0 away verdicts against reigning NCAA Tournament teams last weekend, the Bison return home on Friday to face Towson, followed by a trip to Loretto to face in-state rival Saint Francis on Sunday. The Bison are 1-3 on the season, but all three losses are by 1-0 counts against 2017 NCAA squads (Hofstra, Monmouth, Virginia). Bucknell's victory was a 4-1 rout of Niagara at home on Aug. 19.
The game at Saint Francis will mark Bucknell's fourth opponent already this season that played in the NCAA Tournament a year ago. A fifth will come up on Oct. 2 when the Bison travel to Princeton.
Last Sunday's game at seventh-ranked Virginia was a heartbreaker. The Bison defended valiantly all day against the high-powered Cavaliers and were just 29 seconds away from forcing overtime, but Virginia cashed in on a corner kick to take all three points.
Junior goalkeeper Theresa Adu-Attobrah has started all four games thus far and has been impressive. She tallied a career-high 10 saves last Friday at Monmouth, and then she surpassed that mark with 11 saves against Virginia less than 48 hours later. For the season, Adu-Attobrah has 31 saves with just four goals against, good for an .886 save percentage. Her 7.75 saves per game are tops in the Patriot League.
Bucknell had four different goal-scorers in the Niagara game: sophomore Jenna Marek, junior Bailey Hurst, and freshmen Claire Mensi and Emilene Parham. Newcomers Kate Henesey and Holly Burns picked up assists, giving the first-year class two goals and two assists on the day. Sophomore Sarah Hazard also notched her first collegiate point with an assist.
Henesey, who made her first collegiate start in the Virginia game, leads the team with seven shot attempts.

About Towson/Series History

The Tigers enter Friday's game seeking their first win of the season, although they are coming off a 1-1 home draw against Longwood last Sunday. Previously, Towson dropped road games at South Florida (2-1 OT), Stetson (2-1) and Old Dominion (4-0).
Justine Stoner netted the second-half equalizer to help Towson get a point against Longwood. Stoner also scored against South Florida and leads the team with two goals on the season. Evelyn Neidert scored the goal against Stetson.
Megan Collins, a senior in her first year as a starter, has played all four games in goal for Towson and has 19 saves with nine goals against thus far.
The Tigers are under the direction of first-year head coach Katherine Vettori, who was formerly the head coach at nearby Loyola.
Towson last season finished 5-11-3 overall and 2-6-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Bucknell is 5-4 in nine previous meetings with Towson. The two teams have not met since 2015, when the Bison opened the season with a 1-0 victory over the Tigers at Emmitt Field. Cora Climo provided some late-game heroics with the winning goal in the 86th minute.
Bucknell has won two straight and four of the last five in the series. The teams met for the first time in 1996, a 2-1 Towson win in Lewisburg.

About Saint Francis/Series History

Saint Francis has captured each of the last two Northeast Conference championships, and the Red Flash are the preseason pick to make it three in a row. Brenda Van Stralen's team returns seven starters, 22 letterwinners, and 24 of the team's 34 goals from last season.
In 2017, Saint Francis finished 10-8-3 overall and 6-1-1 in the NEC. The Red Flash knocked of top-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson in penalty kicks in the NEC Tournament championship game. SFU fell 2-0 at Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
This season, Saint Francis 1-2-1 through four games, despite piling up eight goals already. The Red Flash opened with a 2-2 draw with Radford, followed by a 3-2 overtime loss to Canisius. After thumping UMBC 4-0 at home on Aug. 23, Saint Francis dropped a 1-0 decision at Loyola in its most recent outing last Sunday. Saint Francis will host Binghamton on Friday before hosting Bucknell on Sunday.
Sunday's game will be back-half of a doubleheader, as the Bucknell men will play at 1 p.m. at the Stokes Soccerplex.
Alyssa McGhee and Mariana Jaleca share the team lead with two goals, while four others have one each. Julia Hernan has started all four games and has 21 saves with five goals allowed.
Bucknell and Saint Francis have met 25 times previously, with the Bison leading the series 17-6-2. Bucknell won the first 10 series meetings and has now captured three in a row on the heels of an 0-4-1 stretch from 2010-14. The Bison have scored at least one goal in 23 of the 25 contests, including 13 in a row dating back to a 1-0 SFU win in 2003.
Last season at Emmitt Field, Bucknell defeated Saint Francis 4-0. Gabi Rosenfeld scored twice, and Maddie Mulford and Chloe Christakos tallied once each for the Bison.