Sunday, November 7
Boston, Mass.
1 p.m.
Bucknell University
at
Boston University (PL Championship)
Photo by: Lianne Garrahan
Women's Soccer Heads to Boston on Sunday for Patriot League Championship Match
11/5/2021 11:54:00 AM | Women's Soccer
#4 Bucknell (10-7-3, 5-2-2 PL) at #1 Boston University (11-5-3, 6-1-2 PL)
Patriot League Tournament Championship Match
When:Â Sunday, Nov. 7, 1 p.m.
Where:Â Nickerson Field, Boston, Mass.
Streaming:Â ESPN+
Live Stats:Â GoTerriers.com
Bucknell at a Glance
Â
Patriot League Tournament Championship Match
When:Â Sunday, Nov. 7, 1 p.m.
Where:Â Nickerson Field, Boston, Mass.
Streaming:Â ESPN+
Live Stats:Â GoTerriers.com
Bucknell at a Glance
- The fourth-seeded Bison are on to the Patriot League Tournament final for the seventh time in team history. Bucknell goes in search of its fifth championship when it travels to top-seeded Boston University on Sunday afternoon.
- Bucknell in Patriot League championship matches:
- 2001: #2 Bucknell 2, #1 Navy 1 (OT) – Lauren Schwarz wins it with a PK in OT
- 2005: #4 Bucknell 3, #3 Army 1 – Bison score 3 in 2nd half to become first 4 seed to win title
- 2007: #3 Navy 1, #1 Bucknell 0 – Carissa Youker scores game's lone goal late in 1st half
- 2015: #1 Boston U. 1, #2 Bucknell 0 – Chelsea Churchill wins it in 86th minute
- 2016: #1 Bucknell 2, #2 Boston U. 1 (OT) – Cora Climo scores the golden goal
- 2017: #2 Bucknell 3, #1 Navy 2 – Kendall Ham gives Bucknell a 3-0 lead with a hat trick in the game's first 21 minutes.
- Bucknell defeated fifth-seeded Lehigh 2-0 and second-seeded Navy 1-0 in overtime to reach the final. The Bison have yet to concede a goal in the postseason, and they are on a three-game shutout streak dating back to the regular-season finale at Lehigh. Bucknell's current shutout streak stands at a season-high 277 minutes.
- Freshman midfielder Teresa Deda was the hero in overtime in the semifinal win at Navy on Thursday night. Deda leads the Patriot League and ranks eighth nationally with 12 assists, but this time she set herself up with a cut back to the center of the field before firing home a lefty strike to win it in the 93rd minute. It was Deda's second goal of the season, both coming against Navy.
- While Deda was the offensive star, Bucknell's defense was rock solid against a potent Navy attack. The Bison limited the Patriot League's highest scoring team to only one shot on goal all night, that coming from distance in the 87th minute. It was the first time all season Navy was shut out by a Patriot League opponent.
- Hannah Stuck and Claire Mensi scored the goals in last Sunday's 2-0 quarterfinal win over Lehigh at Emmitt Field. Stuck, a sophomore midfielder starting who is starting in place of the injured all-league midfielder 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 Deda to give the Bison the lead.
- 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, and she now leads the Patriot League with seven shutouts.
- This is Bucknell's 22nd all-time Patriot League Tournament appearance and the first since 2018. The Bison are 12-14-3 in Patriot League Tournament matches, and they have won four championships (2001, 2005, 2016, 2017).
- 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 62-48-13 (.557) overall record at Bucknell, including a 35-16-8 (.661) mark in Patriot League play and a 7-2-0 record in the Patriot League Tournament. 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 Terriers went 6-1-2 in Patriot League play to earn the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. Boston University is 7-0-2 in its last nine contests, with its last loss coming at home to Colgate 1-0 on Sept. 22.
- After receiving a bye into the semifinals, Boston University held off sixth-seeded Army 1-0 on Thursday night. The lone goal was a pretty one, with Marli Rajacich volleying home a cross from Abigail McNulty in the 51st minute. Â
- The Terriers had eight players selected to the All-Patriot League Team, including Defensive Player of the Year Jenna Oldham. McNulty and Oldham were First Team selections; Lily Matthews and Julianna Stureman were Second Team picks; and Amy Thompson, Geovanna Pereira, Ashley Buck and Elle Conlin were all named to the Third Team.
- Head coach Nancy Feldman was selected as the Patriot League Coach of the Year for the third time.
- Oldham is the team's leading scorer from her right back position. She has four goals and seven assists for 15 points.
- Thompson also has four goals, and McNulty also has seven assists.
- Twelve different Terriers have accounted for the team's 26 goals. That is the third-highest goal count in the league, behind Navy (33) and Bucknell (29).
- Gretchen Bennett and Celia Braun had been splitting games in goal, but Bennett went the full 90 on Thursday against Army.
- The Bison and Terriers are all even at 5-5-1 in 11 all-time meetings. Bucknell is 5-1-1 in the last seven after Boston University captured the first four.
- This year's regular-season meeting was a wild one, with the Terriers twice coming from a goal down to salvage a 2-2 draw at Emmitt Field. Abby Gearhart scored both goals for the Bison, the latter giving them a 2-1 lead in the 75th minute. But Lily Matthews scored with 2:31 left in regulation to help the Terriers secure a point. Boston University outshot Bucknell 18-17, and Jenna Hall made eight saves for the Bison.
- Bucknell owns a couple of memorable postseason wins over Boston University. The Bison downed the Terriers 2-1 on Cora Climo's overtime goal in the 2016 Patriot League championship game. One year later in Annapolis, Bucknell clipped the Terriers 1-0 in the PL semifinals, and then went on to beat Navy two days later to claim a second straight title.
- The 2016 game avenged Boston University's 1-0 win over Bucknell in the 2015 Patriot League final in Boston. Â Â
- Sunday's winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
- The complete 64-team field will be released at 4:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Nov. 8, during a selection show on NCAA.com. The tournament begins on Friday, Nov. 12.
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