Men's Soccer Visits Saint Peter's Saturday

Bucknell (0-2-0) at Saint Peter's (0-2-0)
When: Saturday, Sept. 4, 2 p.m.
Where: Jaroschak Field, Jersey City, N.J.
Streaming: Peacocks Digital Network
Live Stats: SaintPetersPeacocks.com

Bucknell at a Glance

After clashing with two top-10 teams from the ACC last week, the Bison are back on the road Saturday afternoon to face Saint Peter's. This kicks off the "saints" portion of the schedule, as Bucknell's next four games are against Saint Peter's, Mount St. Mary's, St. Bonaventure and Saint Francis (Pa.).
This is the third of four straight road games to start the season. Bucknell's home opener comes on Sept. 12 against St. Bonaventure.
The Bison ran into two teams with College Cup aspirations last week. On Thursday they opened the season with a 7-0 loss to No. 4 North Carolina, a national semifinalist a year ago. The Tar Heels potted five goals in the first half and never looked back.
On Sunday, the Bison were much improved defensively in a 2-0 loss to No. 7 Wake Forest, which lost to UNC in the NCAA quarterfinals last spring. The Demon Deacons, who have been nationally ranked for 88 straight weeks, scored once in each half. Bison goalkeeper Bennett Schwartz made a career-high eight saves.
Three freshmen have earned starts thus far. Aiden Lawlor and Gabe Dahlin started both games in the back four for interim head coach Matt Brown, and Jack Roberto earned a start against Wake Forest in the midfield.
Bucknell has one of its youngest squads in recent memory. The 28-man roster is comprised of four seniors, six juniors, eight sophomores and 10 freshmen. The eight sophomores could really be classified as rookies, as they also went through a full August preseason training camp for the first time.
The Bison are playing fall soccer for the first time in two years. The Patriot League canceled all fall sports in 2020 due to COVID-19, although the Bison were able to conduct some limited training throughout the semester. A modified, conference-only schedule was arranged for the spring, and Bucknell posted a 1-4-1 record. The lone win came against American, which went on to win the league title and advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and three of the four losses came by one goal.
Bucknell has three captains for the 2021 season: seniors Alex Clarke and Patrick O'Hara, and sophomore MJ Kuczura. Kuczura, an outside back from Chester Springs, Pa., is the first sophomore captain in team history.
Six New Jersey natives will be returning to the Garden State on Saturday: Lawlor (Morristown), Roberto (Howell), Colin Eifert (Harrington Park), Chris Masur (Montclair), Andrew Mazza (Manasquan) and Luke Geleta (Randolph).

Saint Peter's at a Glance

The Peacocks will be playing their home opener on Saturday after losing twice on the road last week, despite scoring first in both games. They dropped their opener 2-1 in overtime at Mount St. Mary's last Thursday, then went to Providence and fell 6-2.
Saint Peter's opened the scoring on a Tom Climpson goal just 9:15 in against the Friars, but the game flipped when Providence scored three times just 11 minutes apart late in the first half.
Kevin Van Der Pol also scored for Saint Peter's at Providence. Jamie Davis assisted on both goals against the Friars, and he scored himself against Mount St. Mary's.
Guillem Badenes Mecho played both games in goal last week and totaled nine saves. Mecho is a graduate transfer from Santa Clara.
The Peacocks went 3-3-1 in the modified spring 2021 season and qualified for the MAAC Tournament for the third year in a row. The previous season, Saint Peter's went 13-6, including a 9-1 mark in the MAAC. The Peacocks won the regular-season title but lost to Iona 3-2 in overtime in the MAAC Tournament final.

The Bucknell-Saint Peter's Series

The Bison are 10-2-3 all-time against Saint Peter's, with each of the last two meetings resulting in 1-1 draws. Both Bucknell goals in those games came on Tyler Peterson penalty kicks.
The last encounter came in 2018 at Emmitt Field. The Bison trailed 1-0 before Peterson converted from the spot in the 68th minute. Marco Torino scored 20 minutes in for the Peacocks.
Bucknell's last trip to Jaroschak Field came on a wet and windy Tuesday night in 2017. In a very similar script to the 2018 game, the Bison conceded in the 22nd minute but equalized in the 61st. Matt Thorsheim was taken down in the box, and Peterson planted his penalty kick in the top right corner.
Bucknell is 4-1-1 all-time on Saint Peter's home field.

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Players Mentioned

Alex Clarke

Gabe Dahlin

Colin Eifert

Luke Geleta

MJ Kuczura

Chris Masur

Andrew Mazza

Patrick O'Hara

Jack Roberto

Bennett Schwartz

Matt Thorsheim