Women's Soccer Travels to Navy for Patriot League Semifinal Matchup Thursday Evening

#4 Bucknell (9-7-3, 5-2-2 PL) at #2 Navy (11-5-3, 6-2-1 PL)
Patriot League Tournament Semifinals
When: Thursday, Nov. 4, 6 p.m.
Where: Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, Annapolis, Md.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: NavySports.com

Bucknell at a Glance

The fourth-seeded Bison moved on in the Patriot League Tournament with a 2-0 quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Lehigh at home on Sunday. Hannah Stuck and Claire Mensi scored second-half goals to help Bucknell beat the Mountain Hawks for the second time in four days.
Stuck, a sophomore midfielder who was starting in place of the injured Abby Gearhart, picked a great time to score her first collegiate goal. Not quite two minutes into the second half of a scoreless game, Stuck buried a cross from Teresa Deda to give the Bison the lead.
Mensi's goal was a persistent one. After Rylee Donaldson was tackled from behind to earn a penalty, Mensi stepped to the spot and had her PK saved. A follow-up attempt was smothered by the charging goalkeeper, but the ball came loose and Mensi finished on her third try.
Now the Bison advance to play second-seeded Navy in Annapolis in the semifinals. Navy received a bye into the semis as one of the top two seeds. No. 1 Boston University and No. 6 Army meet in the other semifinals on Thursday, with the winners meeting for the championship on Sunday at the home of the highest remaining seed.
This is a matchup of the Patriot League's two highest-scoring teams. Navy leads the league with 33 goals, followed by Bucknell with 28. Fittingly, six goals went on the board when the two teams met earlier this season in Lewisburg. The Bison won that one 4-2.
On an individual level, Bucknell's Donaldson (10) and Navy's Alexa Riddle (9) rank 1-2 in the league in goals, and Riddle (23) and Donaldson (21) are 1-2 in points.
The Bison had an outstanding regular season finishing 5-2-2 in league play, but that was only good enough for the No. 4 seed as the Patriot League has been loaded with quality sides in 2021. Bucknell did go undefeated (1-0-2) against the three teams above them in the table, but a late-season loss to Army knocked the Bison out of a top-two seed.
The Patriot League announced its all-league teams and major award winners last week, and Bucknell was well-represented with five players honored, including Offensive Player of the Year Rylee Donaldson. Donaldson was also named to the Academic All-Patriot League squad.
This is the seventh time Bucknell has claimed the league's Offensive Player of the Year. Donaldson, who leads the league with 10 goals, joins Lisa Gibbons (1993), Jennifer Dervarics (2007, 2008), Christa Matlack (2009, 2010) and Kendall Ham (2016) on that select list.
Donaldson was also one of five Bison to earn All-Patriot League honors, which marks Bucknell's most honorees since the 2017 Patriot League championship team also had five. Donaldson and freshman midfielder Teresa Deda were named to the All-Patriot League First Team; senior defender Claire Mensi was a Second Team choice; and junior midfielder Abby Gearhart and sophomore goalkeeper Jenna Hall were both Third Team selections.
Deda has been an impact player as a first-year center midfielder, and she is the first Bison freshman to earn First Team All-Patriot League honors since Kelliann Doherty in 2007. The only other Bucknell rookies to be named to the First Team are Kristie Simon (2000), Kelly Irvin (1999), Sarah Stopper (1996) and Leigh Raymont (1994).
Deda leads the Patriot League and ranks eighth nationally with 12 assists. That is the second-highest total in Bucknell history, trailing only Gibbons, who had 19 assists to go along with 19 goals in 1994. It is also the highest assist total among all Patriot League players since 2006, when Navy's Meggie Curran had 15.
Mensi's all-league selection represents a storybook comeback from not one, but two major knee injuries. She missed the back half of her rookie season in 2018, and then suffered a second season-ending injury just 13 minutes into her sophomore year. Mensi saw limited action in the abbreviated spring 2021 campaign, playing mostly as a forward, but this fall she was fully recovered and returned to her familiar center back position. A two-year co-captain, Mensi has been a rock in the center of the Bison back four. She has played all but five minutes this season, and her role increased even further when her experienced center back partner, fellow senior co-captain Holly Burns, went down with an injury of her own early in the season.
Hall is Bucknell's first all-conference goalkeeper since Jessica Ratner earned First Team honors in 2016. Hall was at her best in the two wins over Lehigh last week. In the regular-season finale in Bethlehem, Hall made a career-high 12 saves, including a diving stop that saved the game with about three minutes left in regulation. That is the highest save total by a Patriot League goalkeeper in a shutout this season. She then notched seven saves in Sunday's quarterfinal shutout over the Mountain Hawks.
This is Bucknell's 22nd all-time Patriot League Tournament appearance and the first since 2018. The Bison are 11-14-3 in Patriot League Tournament matches, and they have won four championships (2001, 2005, 2016, 2017). In 2001 and 2017, Bucknell defeated Navy in Annapolis in the title game.
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 61-48-13 (.553) overall record at Bucknell, including a 35-16-8 (.661) 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.

Navy at a Glance

Navy is gunning for its third straight Patriot League title and sixth in team history. The Mids captured championships in 2003, 2006, 2007, 2019 and spring of 2021.
Last spring, Navy beat Colgate in penalty kicks in the Patriot League final. The Mids then took New Mexico to PKs in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but the Lobos advanced 4-2 in the shootout.
The Mids have been red-hot since they fell 4-2 in Lewisburg to open up Patriot League play back on Sept. 18. Navy is 7-1-2 since then, and the Mids have not lost since a 3-1 home defeat to Boston University on Sept. 25.
Navy's last action came on Oct. 27, a 3-1 home win over Lafayette that locked up a top-two seed. Leading scorer and Patriot League Rookie of the Year Alexa Riddle scored her eighth and ninth goals of the season within the game's first seven minutes, and Katie Herrmann made it 3-0 early in the second half.
Riddle and midfielder Victoria Tran were First Team All-Patriot League selections. The Mids also had four Second Team picks: Hermann, forward Caitlin Doran, defender Chloe Dawson, and goalkeeper Mattie Gallagher.
Navy has outscored its opponents 33-20 on the season. In addition to Riddle's nine goals, seven of which have come in the last six games, Doran has six goals and Hermann and Amanda Graziano three each. Dawson and Riddle share the team lead with five assists.
Gallagher has started 17 of the team's 19 games in goal. She has four shutouts and a 1.13 goals-against average.

The Bucknell-Navy Series

Bucknell and Navy first met in 1994, and they have clashed at least once in every year since then. The Mids hold a 19-12-2 advantage in the series.
These two teams played a wild one at Emmitt Field back on Sept. 18, with the Bison winning 4-2. Rylee Donaldson scored just 3:52 into the match, Kelley Francis followed 20 minutes later, and Donaldson made it 3-0 in the 57th minute. But Navy stormed back with a Caitlin Doran goal and an own goal to make it 3-2, before Teresa Deda ended it with an insurance marker for the Bison in the 86th minute.
Bucknell had only managed as many as four goals against Navy one other time, that coming in a 4-3 home win in 2005. That game 16 years ago was also the last time Navy conceded four times against any Patriot League opponent.
Of Bucknell's 12 all-time wins against Navy, only four have come at home. The Bison have seven wins in Annapolis and another in Boston in the 2015 Patriot League Tournament.
Bucknell is 3-1 against Navy in postseason play, including three straight wins.
- The Mids won 2-0 in Lewisburg in the 1995 semifinals, spoiling the Bison's season after they had gone 6-0 in league play in the regular season.
- In the 2001 championship game in Annapolis, Lauren Schwarz scored on a penalty kick 3:07 into overtime to lift the Bison to their first-ever league title. The Bison led 1-0 on a Kristie Simon goal, but Amelia Sheveland scored a dramatic equalizer with 55 seconds left in regulation.
- In 2015, Bucknell blanked Navy 3-0 in a semifinal match played at Boston University. Kendall Ham opened the scoring 20 minutes in, and Alexis Gannon followed with two more goals as the second-seeded Bison defeated the third-seeded Mids.
- Prior to this year's regular-season meeting, Bucknell's most recent win over Navy was a big one. It was a 3-2 verdict in Annapolis in the 2017 Patriot League championship game. Bison fans witnessed one of the most spectacular individual performances in team history, as then-senior Kendall Ham recorded a hat trick in just the first 21 minutes of the game to stake the Bison to a stunning 3-0 lead. Bucknell had to hold on for dear life as Navy came back with a pair of goals.

Next Up

If the Bison advance on Thursday, they would either travel to Boston or host Army in the championship game on Sunday afternoon.

Women's Soccer Travels to Navy for Patriot League Semifinal Matchup Thursday Evening

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Holly Burns

Teresa Deda

Rylee Donaldson

Kelley Francis

Abby Gearhart

Jenna Hall

Claire Mensi

Hannah Stuck

Women's Soccer Travels to Navy for Patriot League Semifinal Matchup Thursday Evening

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Holly Burns

Teresa Deda

Rylee Donaldson

Kelley Francis

Abby Gearhart

Jenna Hall

Claire Mensi

Hannah Stuck

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