Friday, October 22
West Point, N.Y.
6 p.m.
Bucknell University
at
Army
Photo by: Lianne Garrahan
Women's Soccer Travels to West Point Friday Night
10/20/2021 3:56:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Bucknell (7-6-3, 4-1-2 PL)
When: Friday, Oct. 20, 6 p.m.
Where: Malek Stadium at Clinton Field
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoArmyWestPoint.com
Bucknell at a Glance
When: Friday, Oct. 20, 6 p.m.
Where: Malek Stadium at Clinton Field
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoArmyWestPoint.com
Bucknell at a Glance
- The Bison are down to two regular-season games remaining – at Army on Friday and at Lehigh next Wednesday – and they are on the brink of clinching a Patriot League Tournament berth.
- Sitting on 14 points with a 4-1-2 league record, Bucknell is tied for second place alongside Loyola, two points behind frontrunner Boston University. Navy is fourth on 13 points, with Lehigh fifth on 10 points, and a three-way tie for sixth between American, Army and Colgate with eight points apiece. The top six teams qualify for the postseason, with the top two seeds earning byes into the semifinals.
- Bucknell needs just one point from its final two matches to clinch a postseason berth. Three more points would clinch a top-four seed, which would at least assure a quarterfinal home game if the Bison are not able to secure one of the two byes.
- Bucknell played both of the other top-three teams last week and came away with draws in both. Rylee Donaldson's league-leading ninth goal of the season helped the Bison to a 1-1 tie at Loyola last Wednesday, and then Abby Gearhart recorded her first career two-goal game in a 2-2 draw with Boston University at home on Saturday.
- Bucknell is now 5-1-2 at home this season and 2-5-1 on the road. That road ledger includes a 1-5-1 record on artificial turf.
- Donaldson is now three goals clear of Colgate's Ally Giovino and Navy's Alexa Riddle and Caitlin Doran for the Patriot League goal-scoring lead. Donaldson's 19 points also lead the league, two in front of Riddle. She is trying to become Bucknell's first Patriot League scoring leader since All-American Kendall Ham tallied 15 goals and 35 points in 2016.
- Teresa Deda assisted on all three of Bucknell's goals last week, and she now has a league-high 10 assists on the season. That total also ranks sixth nationally. Deda is only the second Patriot League player in the last 15 years to record double-digit assists in a season, and she now ranks second on Bucknell's single-season list. Lisa Gibbons had a league-record 19 assists in 1994.
- With her two goals on Saturday, Gearhart now has five goals and four assists on the season. Her 14 points are fourth-most in the Patriot League. Gearhart was named Patriot League Midfielder of the Week on Monday.
- Bucknell continues to be one of the Patriot League's highest-scoring teams. The Bison rank second to Navy (29) with 24 goals, and they lead the league in shots (16.1) and corner kicks (7.0) per game.
- The Bison are averaging 1.50 goals per game, after producing only 32 goals in 42 games (0.8) over the previous three seasons.
- The play of the midfield has been a major reason for the scoring resurgence. Deda, Kenar Gelman (6), Gearhart (4) and Petie Nassetta (1) have combined for 21 assists on the team's 24 goals. Nassetta has been a beast in the holding defensive center midfield position, sitting behind the three attacking midfielders.
- Deda has two Patriot League Midfielder of the Week citations and one PL Rookie of the Week honor this fall.
- Sophomore goalkeeper Jenna Hall ranks second in the Patriot League in saves with 74. Her 25 goals allowed are somewhat misleading, given that three have come on penalty kicks and three more on own goals. Eleven of her 25 goals allowed came against three teams that are or have been ranked in the top 25 this season: West Virginia (3), Hofstra (2) and Princeton (6).
- Bucknell was picked ninth in the Patriot League preseason poll, ahead of American and behind Navy, Boston University, Colgate, Army, Loyola, Lehigh, Lafayette and Holy Cross.
- Kelly Cook is in her seventh season on the Bison sideline. Cook owns a 59-47-13 (.550) overall record at Bucknell, including a 34-15-8 (.667) mark in Patriot League play. Cook knows the Patriot League very well, as she was a two-year captain and three-time Second Team All-Patriot League selection at Colgate, where she recorded 27 goals and 23 assists in her career. She ranked in the top 10 in program history in career points (77) and assists. As a junior in 2004, Cook (then Kelly Kuss) was named Patriot League Tournament MVP after leading the Raiders to the league title, and then her team knocked off Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, marking the first NCAA win in school and league history.
- The Black Knights are 5-7-3 overall and 2-3-2 in the Patriot League, and they are one of the three teams looking to move out of that three-way tie for sixth place. Army has a tough finish with Bucknell and Boston University, although both games are at home.
- Like Bucknell, Army has been much better at home this season. The Black Knights are 4-2-1 at Clinton Field but 1-5-2 on the road.
- Army dropped a pair of road games last week, falling 1-0 at Lafayette and 3-1 at Navy.
- Army has scored 19 goals in 15 games, while conceding 21.
- Trinity Garay leads the squad with five goals, including one against Navy last time out, while Jasmine Talley and Izzy Fontana have three apiece. Talley and Dara Murray lead the team with three assists.
- Army starts a freshman goalkeeper in Sage Strohman, who has 41 saves and 14 goals against in 11 starts. She has a pair of clean sheets, coming early in the season against Marist and Vermont.
- This has been a tight series through the years, with Army holding a narrow 18-17-2 lead dating back to 1991.
- Bucknell had won five straight games against Army until the Black Knights won 2-1 at Emmitt Field in the most recent meeting in 2019.
- In that 2019 match, Gabby Bair scored first for Bucknell in the 22nd minute, but Sydney Shafer (35th) and Alyssa Carfagno (68th) brought Army back.
- Bucknell's last trip to West Point came in 2018, and the Bison won 3-1 thanks to two goals from then-freshman Holly Burns. All three goals came on corner kicks, with Burns scoring twice to go along with an Army own goal.
- Bucknell wraps up the regular season at Lehigh on Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. The Mountain Hawks play at American on Saturday before hosting the Bison.
Players Mentioned
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