Women's Soccer Hosts Boston University in Patriot League Semifinal Match Thursday Night

#3 Boston University (11-8-0, 6-3-0 PL) at #2 Bucknell (8-5-4, 5-1-3 PL)
Patriot League Tournament Semifinals
When: Thursday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

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Bucknell at a Glance

The postseason has arrived, and the Bison begin their title defense on Thursday night at home against Boston University. The Bison and Terriers tied for second place in the regular-season standings with 18 points apiece, and Bucknell earned the No. 2 seed based on its 1-0 win over Boston University on Oct. 15.
While Bucknell received a bye into the semifinals, Boston University rolled to a 3-0 home win over sixth-seeded Loyola in the quarterfinal round on Sunday. Fourth-seeded Lehigh downed fifth-seeded Navy 4-0 in the other quarterfinal, and the Mountain Hawks will play at top-seeded Army on Thursday.
This is Bucknell's 23rd Patriot League Tournament appearance. The Bison are 13-14-3 in Patriot League Tournament matches, and they have won five championships (2001, 2005, 2016, 2017, 2021). Bucknell defeated Boston University in the 2016 and 2021 title games.
Since falling 4-0 at Navy in the first round of Patriot League play on Sept. 16, the Bison went 5-0-3 against league foes with a 13-2 goal differential the rest of the way.
Bucknell's four draws this season are a new school record. Note that a 2022 rule change eliminated overtime in regular-season play. In the postseason, however, if the score is tied after 90 minutes, the teams will play two full 10-minute overtime periods with no golden goal. If the score remains tied, the match will be decided in a penalty kick shootout.
In the regular-season finale on Oct. 26, Bucknell and Lehigh played to a 1-1 draw. Ava Schaller gave the Mountain Hawks a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute, but freshman defender Meghan White put one in from just inside the midfield line in the final minute of the first half to tie the game. It was White's first career goal.
Schaller's goal ended Bucknell's scoreless streak at 402:46. The Bison had posted four straight shutouts coming into the Lehigh game.
Bucknell leads the Patriot League in team goals-against average at 0.82, just a notch better than Army at 0.83. The Bison rank 57th nationally out of 337 teams in scoring defense. Offensively, the Bison are fourth in the league in scoring at 1.24 goals per game.
Bucknell was well-represented in the postseason awards programs. Sophomore Teresa Deda (Patriot League Midfielder of the Year) and junior Jenna Hall (PL Goalkeeper of the Year) both received major awards. Deda, Hall, Rylee Donaldson, and Abby Gearhart were all named to the All-Patriot League First Team, and Brooke Tracey received a Third Team citation.
This was the second year in a row the Bison had five all-conference honorees, and the four First Team members are tied for the most in team history. The 2007, 2008, and 2016 squads also had four on the First Team.
Deda is the first Bison to earn First Team honors in each of her first two seasons. She is also the first Bucknell player to earn the Midfielder of the Year award since it was created in 2016.
Hall, Donaldson, and Gearhart are also two-time all-conference honorees. Donaldson repeated as a First Team selection – she was also the Offensive Player of the Year in 2021 – while Gearhart and Hall moved up from the Third Team in 2021.
Deda and Donaldson were named to the 11-player Academic All-Patriot League Team on Tuesday. Donaldson made it for the second year in a row.
Deda scored the goal in Bucknell's 1-0 win at Boston University. 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.
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.
Gearhart has a team-high six goals, which now rank second in the Patriot League. Gearhart has been the league leader for much of the season, but Lehigh's Corinne Lyght moved in front when she scored her seventh against Navy in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
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.
Donaldson ranks seventh in the Patriot League in goals (4) and sixth in points (11).
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 26 straight games dating back to last season, a streak of 2,386 minutes.
Hall leads the Patriot League in goals-against average at 0.74 and save percentage (.844), and she ranks second in solo shutouts (7). She ranks 27th nationally in save percentage.
Hall has 15 career shutouts, tied for second-most in school history with Kathryn Sutton. Jessica Ratner is the leader with 22 from 2013-16.
Bucknell is 10-2-5 at home over the last two seasons, with the losses coming to national powers West Virginia and Princeton. The Bison are 6-0-4 in their last 10 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 86-48-14 overall and 44-15-10 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 71-54-17 (.560) overall record at Bucknell, including a 40-17-11 (.669) 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.

Boston University at a Glance

The Terriers were in position to win the regular-season title on the final match day of the year, but Army scored in the 90th minute in Boston to win 3-2 and steal the top seed.
Boston University slipped to the No. 3 seed, but they dominated Loyola in a 3-0 home win in the quarterfinal round. Eileen Solomon, Lily Mathews, and Abigail McNulty all scored goals, and the Terriers did not allow a single shot on goal.
Boston University had won five straight matches until Bucknell's 1-0 win in Boston on Oct. 15. The Terriers have now won seven of their last nine, with their only losses coming to the top two seeds in the league, Army and Bucknell.
Boston University had six All-Patriot League selections this year, including Rookie of the Year Giulianna Gianino. Jenna Oldham and Amy Thompson, both fifth-year seniors, earned First Team honors. Gianino, McNulty, and Morgan Fagan were named to the Second Team, and Mathews was a Third Team pick.
Fagan leads the Terriers in goals (6) and points (17), while McNulty (4-5-13) and Oldham (2-6-10) are also double-digit point-producers.
Boston University utilizes a goalkeeper tandem, with Celia Braun typically starting games before giving way to Gretchen Bennett in the second half.
Head coach Casey Brown, a 2010 Boston University graduate who was a four-time All-America East selection during her playing days, is in her first year as the Terriers' head coach. She succeeded Nancy Feldman, who retired last April after 27 years on the Boston U. bench.

The Bucknell-Boston University Series

Bucknell holds a 7-5-1 edge in 13 all-time meetings, with four of those clashes coming in the postseason. Bucknell is 7-1-1 in the last nine after the Terriers won the first four.
Teresa Deda's goal just 4:22 into the match was all the Bison needed in a 1-0 win at Nickerson Field earlier this season. In one of the team's better defensive performances of the season, Bucknell limited the Terriers to seven total shots and three on frame.
These two teams had a couple of tense battles last season. With first place on the line last October, the Bison and Terriers played a scintillating 2-2 tie at Emmitt Field. They met again a few weeks later in the Patriot League championship match, and Bucknell prevailed 1-0 at Nickerson Field.
In addition to last year's title-game victory, Bucknell owns a couple of other 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.
Abby Gearhart scored twice in last year's regular-season meeting in Lewisburg. She scored once in each half to give the Bison leads, but Boston University answered both times. Lily Matthews had the final equalizer in the 88th minute.
In last year's title game in Boston, the fourth-seeded Bison capped off a magical postseason run with a 1-0 win over the top-seeded Terriers. Bucknell's goal came off a corner kick in the 75th minute, with Teresa Deda's service bouncing in off a Terriers defender in the 6-yard box.

The Road Ahead

The winner of Thursday's game will advance to the Patriot League championship match on Sunday at 2 p.m. For the first time this season, the women's soccer title bout will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.
Army would host the championship game if it wins its semifinal match against fourth-seeded Lehigh. Should Lehigh advance, the Bucknell-Boston University winner would host the title game.