Men's Soccer Concludes Season Wednesday at Lehigh

Wednesday, November 1

Bethlehem, Pa.

6 p.m.

Bucknell University

Lehigh

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Men's Soccer Concludes Season Wednesday at Lehigh

10/30/2023 6:38:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Bucknell (1-10-4, 0-6-2 PL) at Lehigh (3-9-5, 2-4-2 PL)
When: Wednesday, Nov. 1, 6 p.m.
Where: Ulrich Sports Complex, Bethlehem, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: LehighSports.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell concludes the 2023 season on Wednesday night at Lehigh. The Bison are coming off their best defensive performance of the season in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Lafayette, but they have been eliminated from postseason contention.
Bucknell will be playing a Lehigh side that is currently tied with Holy Cross for seventh place in the Patriot League table, but the Mountain Hawks can still grab the sixth and final postseason spot with a win coupled with a Holy Cross win over Colgate. That would create a three-way tie for sixth on 11 points, and Lehigh would claim the tiebreaker thanks to wins over both the Crusaders and Raiders earlier this season.
At the top of the table, Boston University has a two-point lead over Loyola heading into the final match day. The Terriers travel to Army, while Loyola hosts American on Wednesday. Boston University defeated Loyola 3-1 on Saturday and would have the tiebreaker if needed.
Wins have eluded the Bison this season, despite some very good play at times. In Saturday's game at third-place Lafayette, Bucknell limited the Leopards to only four total shots and none in the second half.
The Bison have seven one-goal losses on the season in addition to four draws.
In three of Bucknell's six league losses, the opponent scored the winning goal in the last four minutes (Navy in the 87', Holy Cross in the 89', Boston University in the 87').
In between the two heartbreakers against Holy Cross and Boston University, Bucknell turned in one of its best performances of the season, but again the effort went unrewarded. Taking on a good St. Bonaventure team at home, the Bison controlled the run of play but settled for a 0-0 draw despite a 17-5 shot advantage and a 13-2 edge in corner kicks.
Charlie Holmes and Zane Domsohn share the team goal-scoring lead with three each. Waldemar Kattrup, Ben Sheffield, Brennan Gac, Aidan Kieffer, and Matthew Owusu all have one each.
Jack Roberto and Marco Valentic lead the team with two assists apiece.
Holmes has a team-high 20 shots, followed by Valentic with 14.
Freshman Rex Alphen made his first collegiate start on Saturday at Lafayette. Alphen, who had playing in only one other match totaling nine minutes this season, saw action in the first half and made two saves without allowing a goal. Freddie Lapworth returned after a five-game injury absence and finished off the combined shutout in the second half.
Jake Nicoll filled in admirably in goal Lapworth sidelined. Nicoll, who also started in the season-opening win at Mount St. Mary's, has 18 saves and nine goals against in seven appearances (six starts). He recorded his first career shutout against St. Bonaventure.
Coach Dave Brandt has gone deep into his bench throughout the campaign. The Bison have averaged 20.3 players per game this season, with a high of 24 against Loyola.
It is a young group, as well. Of the 27 players on the roster, 18 are freshmen and sophomores and only four are seniors.
Sophomore center back Jackson Sullivan is the lone Bison to play all 1,350 minutes this season.
Bucknell's win came in the season-opener at Mount St. Mary's, as Kieffer and Holmes found the back of the net in a 2-1 victory. The Bison also picked draws against George Mason (0-0), American (3-3), St. Bonaventure (0-0), and Lafayette (0-0).
Dave Brandt is Bucknell's 14th full-time head coach and just the third dating back to 1967. Brandt 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.

Lehigh at a Glance

The Mountain Hawks are 3-9-5 overall and 2-4-2 in the Patriot League. While they have also struggled to find wins this season, their results against Colgate and Holy Cross have them alive for a Patriot League Tournament berth if things break right on Wednesday.
Lehigh came from behind to beat Holy Cross 2-1 at home on Saturday night. After Jon Klein scored four minutes into the second half to put the Crusaders on top, Perry Kingson equalized in the 57th minute and Athanasios Cosse won it in the 79th. The Mountain Hawks were outshot 16-4 in the match but made two of them count.
Lehigh has scored 13 goals in 17 games this fall, with Kingson leading the way with five. Thomas Robertson has two goals, and Beckett Wenger has a goal and four assists.
Three different Mountain Hawks have started games in goal this season. Blake Koski, son of head coach Dean Koski, has seen the most action with 11 starts. He has 38 saves with 18 goals against on the season, and he is coming off a strong seven-save performance against Holy Cross.

The Bucknell-Lehigh Series

Bucknell is 29-30-10 against Lehigh in an evenly played series that dates back to 1960.
Bucknell has won two straight against the Mountain Hawks on the heels of a 1-5-1 stretch.
The Bison won 2-1 at Emmitt Field last season, thanks to an 84th-minute goal from Sebastian Paz. Mo Tall gave the Bison the lead on a terrific free kick in the 22nd minute, but Jack Sarkos equalized for Lehigh early in the second half. Paz was on the finishing end of a beautiful through ball from Cade McGrath to win it for Bucknell, which outshot Lehigh 22-9 on the night. That was also the collegiate debut for goalkeeper Freddie Lapworth, who made four saves.
Jordan Miller netted the golden goal in Bucknell's most recent trip to Bethlehem in 2021. Patrick O'Hara hustled to retrieve a ball on the end line, and his service was headed forward by Eddie Perez-Pelaez to Miller, who managed to poke home the shot with two defenders draped on either side.