Men's Soccer Visits No. 5 Syracuse, Hosts Colgate this Week

Bucknell (2-11-0, 1-5-0 PL) at #5 Syracuse (11-2-1, 5-1-0 ACC)
When: Tuesday, Oct. 18, 7 p.m.
Where: SU Soccer Stadium, Syracuse, N.Y.
Streaming: ACC Network Extra
Live Stats: Cuse.com

Colgate (6-3-4, 2-1-3 PL) at Bucknell (2-11-0, 1-5-0 PL)
When: Saturday, Oct. 22, 6 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison take on two teams from Western New York this week, with a non-league game at fifth-ranked Syracuse on Tuesday followed by a home date with Colgate on Saturday evening.
Bucknell heads to Syracuse looking to shake a four-match losing streak. Last time out at Army on Friday, the Bison went ahead on an early penalty kick from Mo Tall, but the Black Knights tied it late in the first half and then scored three times in the second half after Bucknell went down to 10 men when MJ Kuczura was sent off.
With three rounds of Patriot League play remaining, the Bison have work to do to get back in the playoff picture. The top six teams qualify for the Patriot League Tournament, but the Bison are currently ninth with three points. Army is alone at the top of the table with 13 points (4-1-1), two ahead of American and four clear of the trio of Colgate, Navy, and Boston University. The middle of the table is a jumble, with only one point separating third place from eighth.
Tall leads the Bison in goals (3) and points (8) this season. All three of his goals have come on dead balls – two on direct free kicks from outside the box and the third on the PK at Army on Friday. The penalty was the result of a hand ball in the box off a free kick by Tall.
Tall has been a neat story for the Bison in 2022. A senior from Burkina Faso in East Africa, Tall missed all of last season due to injury, and he was limited to just five games in the COVID-modified 2021 spring season. This year he has started all 13 games in the midfield and has enjoyed a productive season. His three goals are the first three of his career.
An 84th-minute goal from Sebastian Paz helped deliver the 2-1 win over Lehigh, Bucknell's lone conference victory thus far. Tall in the 22nd minute scored on a direct free kick, but Lehigh equalized early in the second half. Paz gave the Bison all three points with a first-touch finish off a nicely threaded through ball from Cade McGrath. Bucknell outshot Lehigh 22-9 in the match.
McGrath is second on the squad with two goals, both coming in Patriot League play. He also tallied at American.
Freshman goalkeeper Freddie Lapworth made his Bucknell debut with a win in the Lehigh game. Lapworth hails from Banbury, England and came up through the English club system.
Bucknell has outshot its opponents 158-155 on the season but has been outscored 30-10.
Bucknell's other goal-scorers this year are McGrath, Jordan Miller, Michael Dempsey, and MJ Kuczura. Miller's seventh career goal came against Saint Francis, while the other four registered their first career goals.
Dave Brandt is Bucknell's 14th full-time head coach and just the third dating back to 1967. Brandt, who was hired in December after interim head coach Matt Brown guided the squad last season, brought with him a remarkable career record of 354-86-40 in stints at Messiah, Navy, and Hope. His .779 winning percentage was 20th-best in NCAA men's soccer history among coaches from all divisions with a minimum of 10 years. Brandt won six Division III national championships at Messiah and led Navy to the 2013 Patriot League title and an NCAA Tournament first-round win.
Brandt's first Bucknell squad is a young one, with 16 of the 27 players on the roster in their freshman or sophomore year. The Bison returned 14 players who saw game action last year, including leading scorer Jordan Miller.
Six freshmen have started games for the Bison this season, including midfielder Marco Valentic who has started all 13. Charlie Holmes has made 12 starts and McGrath 10.
The Bison have four captains in 2022: seniors Eddie Perez-Pelaez and Chris Masur, and juniors MJ Kuczura and Collin Murphy. Kuczura is in his second year as a captain. A year ago he became the first sophomore captain in team history.

Syracuse at a Glance

The Bison will be going up against one of the top teams in the nation in Syracuse, which has won three straight to improve to 11-2-1 on the season. On Friday, the Orange made two first-half goals hold up in a 2-1 away win over 11th-ranked Louisville.
Syracuse is 5-1 against ranked opponents this season, including a 2-1 win at No. 1 Clemson on Sept. 16 and a 2-0 victory over No. 4 Wake Forest on Oct. 7. The Orange's only two losses have come against No. 22 Cornell (2-1) and unranked Virginia (1-0).
Syracuse has played two other Patriot League team this season, a 2-0 win at Colgate on Sept. 20 and a 6-1 home victory over Loyola on Oct. 10.
The Orange have outscored their opponents 29-7 in 14 matches. They rank fifth nationally in team goals-against average at 0.50 and eighth nationally in goal differential at +22.
Nathan Opoku is tied for the ACC lead with eight goals to go along with four assists. Opoku had a brace against Loyola and also scored against Louisville last week. He has six goals in his last seven games.
Levonte Johnson, who is on the Hermann Trophy Watch List, has five goals and a team-high six assists, and Jeorgio Kocevski and Giona Leibold have three goals apiece.
Russell Shealy has started 13 of the 14 games in goal and has 42 saves with only seven goals against. He has a 10-2-1 record with seven clean sheets. Backup Lucas Daunhauer has one appearance, when he made four saves in a 1-0 win over Penn State on Aug. 28.
Syracuse went 8-8-2 last season and lost to North Carolina in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The Orange returned nine starters from last year's squad but lost leading scorer DeAndre Kerr to Toronto FC of MLS. Kerr scored nine goals last season, one of them coming against Bucknell.

The Bucknell-Syracuse Series

Bucknell is 2-6-1 all-time against Syracuse, with the wins coming 69 years apart in 1940 and 2009, both by 1-0 counts. The Orange have won the last three, 4-1 in 2014, 1-0 In overtime in 2015, and 4-0 last season. Three of the last four meetings have been held in Lewisburg.
Syracuse scored twice in each half in last season's 4-0 verdict at Emmitt field. The Bison held the Orange to 13 total shots, but all four attempts on target went in the back of the net, including Julio Fulcar's penalty kick with 20 seconds left in the match.
Bucknell's victory in 2009 came in the championship game of the Mayor's Cup in Oneonta, N.Y. Conor O'Brien netted the game's only goal with 2:58 left in regulation, extending his point-scoring streak to a school record 10 games in a row. That Bison squad went on to win the Patriot League championship and defeat Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Colgate at a Glance

Colgate is one of the nation's most-improved sides. After going 0-18 last season and being picked to finish last in the league again this season, the Raiders are 6-3-4 overall, 2-1-3 in the Patriot League, and in contention for one of the top seeds in the Patriot League Tournament. They are currently tied for third place, four points behind league-leading Army.
Colgate travels to UAlbany on Tuesday before heading to Lewisburg. The Raiders are coming off a 1-1 draw against Lafayette on Saturday, and last Tuesday they stunned 22nd-ranked Cornell 1-0 in Hamilton.
Aidan Davock has the hot foot for Colgate. He scored against both Cornell and Lafayette last week and now has a team-high five goals on the season. Max Edelstein has three goals, and Antonio Ducrot and Timmy Donovan have two each.
Colgate has outscored opponents 17-15 on the season.
Andrew Cook is the lead goalkeeper, with 30 saves and 12 goals against in 11 appearances.

The Bucknell-Colgate Series

Colgate has had the better of an all-time series that dates back to 1963. The Raiders hold a 29-11-9 mark against the Bison, although Bucknell won last season in Hamilton to snap a nine-game winless streak (0-6-3) against the Raiders.
Bucknell now is actually on a three-game unbeaten streak against Colgate, as the two results before last year's win were both draws.
Alex Clarke's penalty kick in the 79th minute was the difference in last year's 1-0 Bison win. It was a physical, defensive struggle with three red cards and only 13 total shots between the two sides.
Bucknell's previous win over Colgate in Hamilton was a 1-0 verdict in the 2010 Patriot League Tournament semifinals. The Bison would then go on to beat American 2-0 on the same field two days later to win their second straight league title.

Next Up

After the two matches this week, Bucknell has just two remaining in the regular season. The Bison host Holy Cross on Senior Day on Oct. 29, then finish up at Loyola on Nov. 2.
The top six teams in the table qualify for the Patriot League Tournament, which begins with quarterfinal action on Nov. 5.

Men's Soccer Visits No. 5 Syracuse, Hosts Colgate this Week

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alex Clarke

Michael Dempsey

Charlie Holmes

MJ Kuczura

Freddie Lapworth

Chris Masur

Cade McGrath

Jordan Miller

Collin Murphy

Sebastian Paz

Eddie Perez-Pelaez

Mo Tall

Marco Valentic

Men's Soccer Visits No. 5 Syracuse, Hosts Colgate this Week

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Alex Clarke

Michael Dempsey

Charlie Holmes

MJ Kuczura

Freddie Lapworth

Chris Masur

Cade McGrath

Jordan Miller

Collin Murphy

Sebastian Paz

Eddie Perez-Pelaez

Mo Tall

Marco Valentic

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