Women's Soccer Visits Ohio State Friday in NCAA Tournament First Round

After winning twice in penalty kicks in the Patriot League Tournament, Bucknell captured its second straight conference title and will be back in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and sixth time in team history. The Bison rode their defense to the 2022 championship. They did not concede a goal in 220 minutes of postseason play, and they enter the NCAA Tournament having shut out six of their last seven opponents. The Bison have tied a school record with 11 clean sheets on the season, including one at No. 15 West Virginia back in September, and they currently rank 31st nationally with a 0.72 goals-against average. The winner of Friday's game will face either third-seeded Arkansas or Missouri State in the second round.

Bucknell (8-5-6, 5-1-3 PL) at #6 seed Ohio State (10-5-3, 5-3-2 Big 10)
NCAA Tournament First Round | B racket | Tickets
When: Friday, Nov. 11, 6 p.m.
Where: Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium
Streaming: E SPN+
Live Stats: OhioStateBuckeyes.com

How the Bison Got Here
• After winning the 2021 Patriot League championship, Bucknell returned eight starters and contended for the regular-season title throughout the regular season. The Bison secured the No. 2 seed and a bye into the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, where they proceeded to become the first team in league history to win the tournament without scoring a goal.
• In both the semifinals against third-seeded Boston University and the championship match against top-seeded Army, Bucknell won in penalty-kick shootouts after playing 110 minutes of scoreless soccer. The Bison clipped Boston University 4-3 and Army 3-1 in the PK sessions, with Sunday's game the first Patriot League final ever to be decided in a shootout. Senior Rylee Donaldson hit the clinching PK in both games and was later named Tournament MVP. Teresa Deda and Meghan White both went 2-for-2 from the spot and also made the All-Tournament Team, as did goalkeeper Jenna Hall, who made a big PK herself in the shootout against Boston University and saved one against Army in the final just before Donaldson's clincher.
• Bucknell has now played in the Patriot League championship match eight times and has prevailed in six of them.

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.
2021: #4 Bucknell 1, #1 Boston U. 0 – Bison take lead on own goal off corner kick in 75th minute.
2022: #2 Bucknell 0, #1 Army 0 (2OT) (Bucknell advances 3-1 in PKs) -- Rylee Donaldson hits clinching PK

• Bucknell lost 4-0 at Navy in the first Patriot League match of the season on Sept. 16. Since that rough night in Annapolis, the Bison went 5-0-5 against league opponents, including tournament play, and conceded only two goals in those 10 games for a microscopic 0.19 goals-against average.
• Prior to this season, and the elimination of overtime in regular-season play, Bucknell's record for ties in a season was three. This season the Bison have six draws, including four in a row (the shootout wins in the postseason officially go down as ties).
• One of those draws came at No. 15 West Virginia on Sept. 11. The 0-0 deadlock marked Bucknell's first-ever point against a nationally ranked opponent.
• While Bucknell has been terrific defensively since the Navy game, it has also struggled to find goals in recent weeks. The Bison have scored just twice in their last six matches but earned at least a point from all six (1-0-5).
• This year's championship run had a much different feel than last year's. In 2021, Bucknell was picked ninth in the Patriot League preseason poll, surged to the No. 4 seed, and then won three straight tournament matches, the last two on the road, to claim the title. This year the Bison were essentially co-favorites in the Patriot League (one point behind Navy in the preseason poll), and repeated as champions despite the heightened expectations.

Getting Defensive
• Bucknell is in the midst of one of its best defensive seasons in team history. The Bison have allowed only 14 goals in 19 matches and have tied the school record with 11 shutouts.
• The 2015 team also had 11 shutouts and finished with 15 goals allowed in 20 games. The 2016 squad, which went 16-2-2 and won a Patriot League title, had only allowed 11 goals through 19 matches but then conceded six at Penn State in the NCAA Tournament.
• This year's team enters the NCAA Tournament with six shutouts in its last seven games. The Bison have allowed only one goal in the last 670 minutes. That came in a 1-1 draw with Lehigh on Oct. 26, and the goal came when a Bison defender cleared a cross off the body of her own teammate, and the ricochet fell to a Lehigh player for a tap-in goal.
• Bucknell's 0.72 goals-against average is the best in the Patriot League and 31st-best among the 337 Division I teams.
• Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year Jenna Hall has lowered her personal goals-against average to 0.62, which is the best in the league and ranks 30th nationally. Hall's .870 save percentage ranks 11th in the nation.

NCAA Leaders, Save Percentage:
1. Allie Augur, Georgetown .909
2. Trinity Corcoran, Northern Arizona   .903
3. Murphy Sheaff, Jacksonville .902
4. Jocelyn Tanner, South Dakota State   .897
5. Nicole Panis, Lamar .889
   Sofia Miliancano, North Florida .889
7. Chiara Gottinger, St. Bonaventure .881
8.  Emily Kelly, Buffalo .881
9. Samantha Castaneda, Purdue Fort Wayne .876
10. Erin Gibbs, Morehead State .873
11. Jenna Hall, Bucknell .870

The Bison in the NCAA Tournament
• The Bison are back in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season and sixth time overall. This is the second set of back-to-backs in team history.

Bucknell NCAA Tournament Matches:
2001 — at Penn State, L 3-1
2005 — at Penn State, L 6-0
2016 — at Penn State, L 6-0
2017 — at West Virginia, L 3-0
2021 — at Rutgers, L 2-0
2022 — at Ohio State

• Bucknell's only NCAA Tournament goal was scored by Savannah Rennels in the team's first appearance in 2001. The goal tied the game in the 24th minute, but Penn State scored in the 66th and 68th to win it.
• Last year Bucknell drew top-seeded Rutgers in the first round and turned in its best defensive showing in an NCAA match. Jenna Hall made a career-high 15 saves against a Scarlet Knights side that eventually advanced all the way to the College Cup.

Awards Season
• 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. Donaldson made it for the second year in a row.

Bucknell vs. Ohio State
• The Bison and Buckeyes have met on only one other occasion. Ohio State, ranked 15th at the time, defeated Bucknell 2-0 on Sept. 13, 2015.
• The Buckeyes scored on a Bridget Skinner header in the 21st minute and a Sarah Roberts deflected shot in the 50th.
• Jessica Ratner made nine saves for Bucknell.
• This year's Ohio State team is 10-5-3 and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after falling to Nebraska 4-0 in the Big Ten quarterfinals on Oct. 30.
• The Buckeyes have scored 36 goals in 18 games this season, including 13 in back-to-back wins over Maryland (7-0) and Illinois (6-1) in mid-October. But they have gone cold since then, dropping their last three by a combined score of 7-0.
• Emma Sears (8-5-21), Kayla Fischer (8-12-18), Kailyn Dudukovich (7-1-15), Peyton McNamara (5-2-12), and Kine Flotre (2-5-9) are the top point-producers for the Buckeyes.
• Freshman Molly Pritchard has played the full game in goal in each of the last six after splitting halves with grad student Kat Robinson for most of the season. Robinson has the better stats with an .840 save percentage and 0.57 GAA, compared to Pritchard's .781 and 1.29. Robinson is a Pitt transfer who is a former teammate of Bucknell's Eva Frankovic.
• Lori Walker-Hock is in her 26th season as Ohio State's head coach. A former national championship-winning goalkeeper at North Carolina, Walker-Hock is a three-time Big Ten coach of the Year who has led Ohio State to 16 NCAA Tournaments and one College Cup semifinal appearance in 2010.

Notes & Notables
• Bucknell sophomore Katie Schiano is the daughter of current Rutgers' head football coach and former Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano. Katie, who attended Columbus Academy while living in New Albany, missed most of last season after suffering a knee injury. She came back this year and made a position switch from forward to right back, and she has been outstanding in that role. Schiano has started the last 12 games and played in 17 on the season.
• After Sunday's result, Bucknell is now 3-2 all-time in penalty kick shootouts.

Bucknell in Penalty-Kick Shootouts:
2005 PL Semifinals vs. Lehigh: Won 6-5
2008 PL Semifinals vs. Army: Lost 5-4
2013 PL Quarterfinals vs. Colgate: Lost 5-4
2022 PL Semifinals vs. Boston University: Won 4-3
2022 PL Championship vs. Army: Won 3-1

• Teresa Deda leads the Patriot League with eight assists and ranks sixth 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.
• Abby Gearhart has a team-high six goals, which rank second in the Patriot League. Gearhart had 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 Patriot League quarterfinals.
• Five of Gearhart's six goals this season have been game-winners. That is the ninth-highest total in the nation.
• Brooke 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 28 straight games dating back to last season, a streak of 2,606 minutes.
• Bucknell is 10-2-6 at home over the last two seasons, with the losses coming to national powers West Virginia and Princeton. The Bison are 6-0-5 in their last 11 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 86-48-15 overall and 44-15-10 in Patriot League games at home.

Bucknell's Record When ...
• Scoring first — 7-1-0
• Allowing first goal — 0-4-1
• Leading at half — 6-1-0
• Tied at half — 1-1-6
• Trailing at half — 0-3-0

Head Coach Kelly Cook
• Kelly Cook is in her eighth season on the Bison sideline. Cook owns a 71-54-19 (.559) 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.

Women's Soccer Visits Ohio State Friday in NCAA Tournament First Round

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Players Mentioned

Teresa Deda

Rylee Donaldson

Eva Frankovic

Abby Gearhart

Jenna Hall

Katie Schiano

Brooke Tracey

Meghan White