Men's Soccer Begins Three Straight Road Contests at Penn, American

Tuesday, September 25

Philadelphia, Pa.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

Penn

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Men's Soccer Begins Three Straight Road Contests at Penn, American

9/24/2018 11:41:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Setting the Scene, Part 1
Who: Bucknell (3-3-2) at Penn (2-1-3)
When: Tuesday, Sept. 25, 7 p.m.
Where: Rhodes Field, Philadelphia, Pa.
Live Video: ESPN ($), NBC Sports Philadelphia Plus
Live Stats: Pennathletics.com

Setting the Scene, Part 2
Who: Bucknell (3-3-2) at American (1-4-2)
When: Saturday, Sept. 29, 2 p.m.
Where: Reeves Athletic Complex, Washington, D.C.
Live Video: Patriot League Network
Live Stats: AUEagles.com

About the Bison

Bucknell will travel to Philadelphia for the second time in a week for a nonconference game when it faces Penn on the road for a 7 p.m. kickoff before traveling to American on Saturday.
Bucknell has dropped its last two road games, falling 2-0 at Drexel on Sept. 18, and a 2-0 loss to Saint Francis (PA) on Sept. 2.
However, the Bison are coming off of a win to open Patriot League play, a 1-0 victory over Lafayette to give the Bison three points to start off the conference campaign. The win was Bucknell's first to open Patriot League competition since the 2014 season.
The goal from Michael Pavick, scored just 11 minutes into the game, was Bucknell's only shot on target through 90 minutes, but proved enough as the Bison defense of center backs Tyler Peterson and Quinn Bredin, along with outside backs Bernie Wright and Dany Teran, kept a third clean sheet of the season.
The back line held the Leopards to just two shots on target and nine total shots on the day.
The Leopards two shots on target came in quick succession as goalkeeper Ryan Ott was forced to make a save from about six yards out with his left leg to deny Lafayette a late equalizer. Ott came up big once again to claim a low shot driven in by the Leopards from the right side just seconds later to preserve the Bison's 1-0 lead.
The win was the Bison's first by a 1-0 score since defeating Navy on the road on Nov. 4, 2017.
The two games are the first two of three straight road contests for Bucknell, with the Bison having six of their last ten regular season games away from Emmitt Field.
Nick King picked up his third assist of the season on Pavick's goal, which is tied for second-best in the Patriot League. Matt Thorsheim also collected his first assist of the season in the build up to the goal.
Ott is tied for second in the Patriot League with 33 saves overall while also holding an .825 save percentage.

About Penn /Series History

The Quakers, picked fifth in the Ivy League Preseason Poll, are coming off of two consecutive scoreless overtime draws against Lehigh and Marist, with Penn failing to find the back of the net in its last three games overall.
However, the Quakers have been stingy defensively, with four clean sheets through their first six games.
Penn has only lost one game this season, a 2-0 defeat at Milwaukee. The Quakers have accumulated three draws, all scoreless.
Bucknell has played Penn just one time in its history back in 2010 in which the Bison fell 1-0 in overtime.
Alex Touche has netted twice for the Quakers, with Jerel Blades and Joey Bhangdia each getting on the scoresheet once. Brandon Bartell has two assists on the season.

About American /Series History

American is 1-4-2 to start the year after playing a challenging nonconference slate to open the season.
The Eagles played road matches at West Virginia, picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference, as well as a cross-country trip to play at Oregon State and Portland.
American dropped its Patriot League opener 2-1 at Boston University, and is in the midst of a five-game winless streak.
The Eagles were picked to finish eighth in the 2018 Patriot League Preseason Poll.
Midfielder Fabio Massaro leads the Eagles with four goals, while Brenner Jarrad and Jerry Zouantcha have each tallied two goals on the year.
American leads the all-time series record against Bucknell 15-7-1. The Bison took the last meeting between the two teams in 2017 2-1 at Emmitt Field with goals from Thorsheim and Bernie Wright.

Up Next
Following Saturday's trip to American, the Bison will play Loyola on the road on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. before returning to Emmitt Field on Sunday, Oct. 7 for a home match against Holy Cross at 12 p.m.