Women's Soccer Clashes with Navy Friday Night in Annapolis on Opening Night of Patriot League Play

Friday, September 16

Annapolis, Md.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

Navy

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Women's Soccer Clashes with Navy Friday Night in Annapolis on Opening Night of Patriot League Play

9/14/2022 5:37:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Bucknell (3-3-1, 0-0-0 PL) at Navy (3-2-3, 0-0-0 PL)
When: Friday, Sept. 16, 7 p.m. ET
Where: Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, Annapolis, Md.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: NavySports.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Patriot League play has arrived, as Bucknell travels to Navy on Friday in a matchup of the teams picked 1-2 in the league's preseason poll. The Mids were tabbed as the favorites with 145 points, while Bucknell was just one back with 144. These two teams met in Annapolis in the 2021 Patriot League Tournament semifinals, with Bucknell winning 1-0 in overtime on Teresa Deda's overtime goal.
Bucknell turned in its best defensive outing of the season on Sunday when it battled 17th-ranked West Virginia to a 0-0 draw in Morgantown. The Bison limited the Mountaineers to 13 total shots, and Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week Jenna Hall made six saves on the way to the clean sheet.
The Bison have conceded only six goals in seven games this season, and their 0.86 goals-against average is second-best in the Patriot League behind only Navy (0.63). Bucknell has received strong play of late from center backs Brooke Tracey and Olivia DeConinck, with the sophomore DeConinck seeing her first regular action filling in for the injured Eva Frankovic. Deconinck played the full 90 minutes against West Virginia, and Tracey is the only Bison who has played all 630 minutes this season.
Rylee Donaldson, the reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and golden boot winner, leads the team with three goals on the season. Abby Gearhart, Reese Evans, Sydney Hess, Hannah Stuck, and Paige Temple have one each. Deda has a team-high three assists and leads the Patriot League in shot attempts with 26.
Hall leads the Patriot League in goals-against average (0.50) and save percentage (.900), with the latter figure ranking 17th nationally. Hall has allowed only two goals in five appearances, with one of them coming on a penalty kick at Towson.
After leading the Patriot League with 12 helpers as a freshman in 2021, Deda is already up to seventh place on Bucknell's career assists chart with 15, just seven games into her sophomore year. Deda was named the Patriot League Preseason Midfielder of the Year prior to the season.
Bucknell is 7-0-1 in its last eight home games, but the Bison do not play at home again until Sept. 24 against Colgate. The Navy game is the fourth in a run of five straight away fixtures.
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 66-52-14 (.553) overall record at Bucknell, including a 35-16-8 (.661) 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.

Navy at a Glance

The Mids enter Patriot League play with a 3-2-3 record. Navy's most recent game against Towson was abandoned at halftime due to heavy rain. Bucknell had a similar circumstance earlier in the year when its game against Mount St. Mary's was washed out at intermission.
Navy has four shutouts this season, coming in wins over The Citadel (2-0), Marymount (6-0), and Fairleigh Dickinson (1-0) as well as a 0-0 draw with Western Carolina. The Mids have also played 1-1 draws with Maryland and Penn. St. John's is the only team to score more than one goal against Navy this season, that coming in a 2-0 Red Storm win in Queens.
Coach Carin Gabarra's team has spread its 11 goals among nine different players. Olivia Foster and Ashley Yi lead the way with two goals apiece. Tori Liesen has a team-high five points from a goal and three assists, with all of that output coming in the Marymount game.
Mattie Gallagher has started seven of the team's eight games – all but Marymount – and has 33 saves with only five goals against. She made a season-high seven saves against Penn last week.
Midfielder Katie Hermann and forward Alexa Riddle were both named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team. Riddle is the reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year after recording nine goals and five assists for a league-high 23 points in 2021.

The Bucknell-Navy Series

Bucknell and Navy first met in 1994, and they have clashed at least once in every year since then. The Mids hold a 19-13-2 advantage in the series.
Of Bucknell's 13 all-time wins against Navy, only four have come at home. The Bison have eight wins in Annapolis and another in Boston in the 2015 Patriot League Tournament.
Last season was the first time Bucknell defeated Navy twice in the same season. The Bison won 4-2 at home in the regular season and 1-0 in overtime in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
These two teams played a wild one at Emmitt Field last Sept. 18. Rylee Donaldson scored just 3:52 into the match, Kelley Francis followed 20 minutes later, and Donaldson made it 3-0 in the 57th minute. But Navy stormed back with a Caitlin Doran goal and an own goal to make it 3-2, before Teresa Deda ended it with an insurance marker for the Bison in the 86th minute.
Bucknell had only managed as many as four goals against Navy one other time, that coming in a 4-3 home win in 2005. That game 16 years earlier was also the last time Navy conceded four times against any Patriot League opponent.
The freshman Deda was the hero in Annapolis in the Patriot League semifinals, as she tucked a left-footed strike inside the right post for her first career golden goal. Bucknell was stout defensively, holding the Patriot League's highest-scoring team to just nine total shots and just one on frame.

The Road Ahead

Bucknell concludes its long road stretch at American on Wednesday before returning home to face Colgate next Saturday.
The Eagles are 1-1-4 on the season and are coming off an impressive 2-2 draw with Old Dominion, the reigning Conference USA champion.