Wednesday, October 26
Lewisburg, Pa.
7 p.m.
Bucknell University
vs
Lehigh
Photo by: Lianne Garrahan
Women's Soccer Wraps Up Regular Season Wednesday vs. Lehigh, Can Secure PL Tourney Bye with Win
10/25/2022 1:36:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Lehigh (7-6-2, 5-2-1 PL) at Bucknell (8-5-3, 5-1-2 PL)
When: Wednesday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Bucknell at a Glance
The Bucknell-Lehigh Series
The Road Ahead
When: Wednesday, Oct. 25, 7 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Bucknell at a Glance
- The final round of Patriot League play is set for Wednesday, with all 10 teams in action starting at 7 p.m. Five of the six tournament spots have been filled, with Navy, Colgate, and Holy Cross all still alive for the final berth. Meanwhile, the top four in the table – Boston University, Bucknell, Army, and Lehigh – are all separated by just two points, and they will pair off on Wednesday with Bucknell hosting Lehigh and Army traveling to Boston.
- A look at the table entering Match Day No. 9, along with each team's season-ending fixtures:
- Boston University 6-2-0 (18) – vs. Army
- Bucknell 5-1-2 (17 pts.) – vs. Lehigh
- Army 5-1-2 (17) – at Boston U.
- Lehigh 5-2-1 (16) – at Bucknell
- Loyola 3-3-2 (11) – vs. American
- Navy 3-5-0 (9) – at Lafayette
- Colgate 2-4-2 (8) – at Holy Cross
- Holy Cross 2-5-1 (7) – vs. Colgate
- American 1-5-2 (5) – at Loyola
- Lafayette 1-5-2 (5) – vs. Navy
- The top six teams qualify for the Patriot League Tournament. The top two seeds receive byes into the semifinals, and all games are hosted by the higher-seeded team.
- Bucknell can win the regular-season title outright with a win over Lehigh and a draw in the Army-Boston University game. If Bucknell and Army both win, they will be tied on 20 points, and the No. 1 seed will be determined by which team finishes higher in the standings between Navy and Colgate. (Bucknell and Army tied each other and have identical results against the rest of the league except Navy and Colgate; Bucknell defeated Colgate and lost to Navy, while Army defeated Navy and lost to Colgate).
- Bucknell is assured of a top-four seed and can clinch a top-two seed with a win over Lehigh. If the Bison finish as the 3 or 4 seed, they would host a quarterfinal game on Sunday afternoon.
- Bucknell is coming off a 0-0 draw with Army on Saturday. Both defenses were stout, and the best saves from the goalkeepers came on shots from outside the box. Jenna Hall made seven saves for the Bison, who now have four straight shutouts and bring a scoreless streak of 390:31 into the Lehigh game. Â
- Since falling 4-0 at Navy in the first round of Patriot League play on Sept. 16, the Bison are 5-0-2 against league foes with a 12-1 goal differential.
- Bucknell's defense will be put to the test against a Lehigh team that leads the league in scoring with 1.33 goals per game. The Bison are next at 1.25.
- Bucknell is conceding only 0.81 goals per game, the second-best mark in the league behind Army (0.76). The Bison rank 56th nationally out of 337 teams in scoring defense.
- Meghan White earned her second straight Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor on Monday. White has started every game at left back for the Bison and has played a key role in the current scoreless streak.
- Teresa Deda scored the goal in Bucknell's 1-0 win at Boston University 10 days ago. It was her second of the season to go along with a Patriot League-high eight assists. Deda ranks fifth in the league in total points with 12. Her eight assists are 18th-most in the nation.
- Deda now has 20 career assists. The sophomore recently moved past Hall-of-Famer Jennifer Dervarics into sole possession of third place on Bucknell's all-time list. Lisa Gibbons (35) and Liz Woodrow (22) are the only other Bison to record 20 career assists.
- Abby Gearhart is tied for the Patriot League goal-scoring lead with six. Boston University's Morgan Fagan and Lehigh's Corinne Lyght also have six goals, while Loyola's Baylee DeSmit has five.
- Five of Gearhart's six goals this season have been game-winners. That is the sixth-highest total in the nation, with five players tied for the lead with six game-winners.
- Rylee Donaldson ranks fifth in the Patriot League in goals (4) and sixth in points (11).
- Center back Brooke Tracey earned Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 10 after playing a starring role in a 2-0 shutout at Lafayette. Tracey is one of only two field players in the Patriot League who has played every minute of every game this season. The other is Lafayette's Rory Schauder. Tracey has actually played every minute in 25 straight games dating back to last season, a streak of 2,296 minutes.
- Hall leads the Patriot League in goals-against average at 0.72 and save percentage (.850), and she ranks second in solo shutouts (7). She ranks 27th nationally in save percentage.
- Hall now has 15 career shutouts, tied for second-most in school history with Kathryn Sutton. Jessica Ratner is the leader with 22 from 2013-16. Â
- Bucknell is 10-2-4 at home over the last two seasons, with the losses coming to national powers West Virginia and Princeton. The Bison are 6-0-3 in their last nine home games against Patriot League opponents. The last PL team to win on Emmitt Field was Navy during the COVID-modified Spring 2021 campaign.
- Since Emmitt Field debuted in 2005, Bucknell is 86-48-13 overall and 44-15-9 in Patriot League games at home.
- Bucknell is the defending Patriot League champion. Seeded fourth in the 2021 league tournament after being picked ninth in the preseason poll, Bucknell posted consecutive shutouts of Lehigh (2-0), Navy (1-0 OT), and Boston University (1-0) to claim the fifth conference title in team history. The Bison then held their own in a 2-0 loss to top-seeded Rutgers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Scarlet Knights later advanced all the way to the College Cup semifinals.
- Bucknell last year became the first team to win three Patriot League Tournament games since the league expanded to a six-team format in 2013. Only teams seeded No. 1 or 2 — and thus earning a bye straight into the semifinals — had ever won the title.
- Bucknell was also the only team in the country seeded fourth or lower to win its conference tournament. Of the 28 Division I conference tournaments, 25 were won by No. 1 or 2 seeds. Michigan in the Big Ten and Memphis in the AAC won as No. 3 seeds, and Bucknell did it as a No. 4.
- Seniors Leanne Engemann and Petie Nassetta are the team co-captains in 2022.
- Kelly Cook is in her eighth season on the Bison sideline. Cook owns a 71-54-16 (.560) overall record at Bucknell, including a 40-17-10 (.672) 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 Mountain Hawks are 3-0-1 in their last four Patriot League matches and have locked in a top-four seed. Lehigh was picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll.
- Lehigh has piled up seven goals in its last two league outings, a 4-2 win over Loyola on Oct. 15 and a 3-1 win over American this past Saturday. The Mountain Hawks have outscored opponents 20-18 in 15 games this season.
- Corinne Lyght recorded a brace in the Loyola win and she scored the opening goal against American on Saturday to move into a share of the Patriot League goal-scoring lead with six. Sophia Lis and Ryelle Shuey have three goals apiece.
- Lehigh has turned to a freshman goalkeeper this season in Maggie Ousouljoglou. She has logged 43 saves with 15 goals against and has five shutouts. She ranks fourth in the Patriot League in goals-against average (1.11) and seventh in save percentage (.741).
- Lehigh first-year defender Paige Christakos is the younger sister of former Bucknell center back Chloe Christakos.
- Lauren Calabrese is in her first season as Lehigh's head coach after serving as associate head coach for the previous six seasons. Calabrese is a 2007 Lehigh graduate and was a four-year starter for the Mountain Hawks.
The Bucknell-Lehigh Series
- Bucknell is 18-13-4 all-time against Lehigh, including back-to-back October wins last season.
- Rylee Donaldson's overtime goal gave the Bison a 1-0 win in last year's regular-season finale in Bethlehem. That secured a top-four seed and a quarterfinal home game for the Patriot League Tournament, and the two teams met again five days later in Lewisburg. This time Bucknell won 2-0 on second-half goals from Hannah Stuck and Claire Mensi. Â
- The Bison and Mountain Hawks have met four times in postseason play. In addition to last year's home win, Bucknell also advanced past top-seeded Lehigh in penalty kicks in the 2005 semifinals. The Bison won the title two days later with a 3-1 win over Army in Bethlehem. Lehigh defeated Bucknell 1-0 in the 2010 semifinals at West Point, and 2-1 in overtime in the 2018 quarterfinals at Emmitt Field.
The Road Ahead
- The 2022 Patriot League Tournament starts Sunday with the quarterfinal round featuring matchups between the 3/6 and 4/5 seeds at home sites.
- The Bison cannot be seeded lower than fourth, so if they do not end up with a bye as a top-two seed, they would host a game on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Emmitt Field. The game would be streamed on ESPN+. Â
Players Mentioned
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