Women's Soccer Hosts Boston University in PL Semifinals Thursday Night

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

BUY TICKETS
For Bucknell Students: Free admission with ID; Free orange & blue Bucknell Bison scarf (while supplies last)

Bucknell at a Glance

For the second straight season, Bucknell hosts Boston University in a Patriot League Tournament semifinal matchup at Emmitt Field. The Bison, who outlasted the Terriers in penalty kicks one year ago, earned the No. 2 seed and a quarterfinal bye thanks to a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Lehigh in the final regular-season game last Wednesday. Boston University is the No. 4 seed and is still alive after besting No. 5 Lehigh in PKs in the quarterfinal round on Sunday.
These two teams are very familiar with one another, as this will be their sixth clash in the last three seasons. That includes a wild 3-3 draw at Emmitt Field earlier this season.
No. 6 seed Colgate upset No. 3 Loyola 2-0 in Baltimore in the other quarterfinal match on Sunday, and the Raiders now head to top-seeded Army for a semifinal contest on Thursday. That will be a 5 p.m. start at West Point.
Thursday's winners will meet at the home of the higher seed in the championship match on Sunday at 1 p.m. The tournament final will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
Bucknell finished the regular season 11-3-4 overall and 5-1-3 in Patriot League play. The Bison are unbeaten (5-0-2) in their last seven matches heading into the postseason. Their last loss came on Sept. 23 at Army, and Bucknell ended up one point behind Army (6-2-1) in the final standings.
Bucknell is seeking its third straight Patriot League championship and seventh overall. This is the program's 24th Patriot League Tournament appearance. The Bison are 13-15-5 all-time in Patriot League Tournament matches, with their previous championships coming in 2001, 2005, 2016, 2017, 2021, and 2022.
Boosted by a road win two weeks ago over a Princeton team that was then ranked No. 8 in the RPI, Bucknell's RPI has climbed all the way to No. 60 out of 347 Division I teams.
There are 22 Division I teams that are still unbeaten at home, and Bucknell is one of them (7-0-2). The Bison are unbeaten (8-0-6) in their last 14 home matches dating back more than a year. The last home loss against Princeton on Sept. 27, 2022.
Bucknell's senior class has lost only one home game to a Patriot League opponent in their careers. Over the last four seasons, the Bison are 10-1-7 at Emmitt Field against league foes, with the only loss a 1-0 defeat to Navy in the COVID-modified 2021 spring season.
In each of the last three mid-weeks, Bucknell has spoiled another team's unblemished home record. Loyola, Princeton, and Lehigh were all unbeaten on their home grounds until the Bison came away with victories.
Bucknell fared very well in the All-Patriot League voting with six honorees, including two major award winners. Jenna Hall (Goalkeeper of the Year) and Teresa Deda (Midfielder of the Year) both repeated as major award winners. Deda became the first two-time Midfielder of the Year since the award was established in 2016, and Hall is the fifth two-time Goalkeeper of the Year in league history.
Center back Brooke Tracey joined Hall and Deda on the All-Patriot League First Team. Tracey moved up after earning Third Team honors last season.
Second Team picks Henna Andican and Katie Schiano and Third Team selection Paige Temple all garnered all-conference accolades for the first time.
Bucknell's six honorees were its most since the 2016 squad earned a school-record eight.
Deda has been sensational in the midfield once again this season. She has a career-high seven goals and a league-high nine assists, as she is vying to win the league's assists title for the third year in a row. Her 29 career assists are already second-most in team history, sixth-most in Patriot League history, and 10th-most among all active Division I players. Her 0.5 career assists-per-game average is fourth-best among all active players.
Deda, who assisted on both goals in last week's 2-0 win at Lehigh, ranks second in the league in goals and points (23), trailing only Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year Baylee DeSmit of Loyola.
Bucknell has a 22-1-3 record when Deda records at least one point in a match, including a 9-0-1 mark this season.
Deda is only sixth player in Bucknell history with at least seven goals and seven assists in a season, and just the second since 1994. Hall-of-Famer Lisa Gibbons had 19 goals and 19 assists in her jaw-dropping 1994 season, and Gibbons also had 12 goals and eight assists in 1992. Leigh Raymont and Liz Woodrow both had nine goals and seven assists in 1994 (Bucknell scored a school-record 74 goals in 19 games that season), and the most recent to do it was Maddie Mulford in 2016 with 10 goals and eight assists.
Over the last three weeks, Deda has now had a hand in seven of the team's nine goals (3G, 4A). She now has 11 goals and 29 assists for 51 career points in less than three collegiate seasons. Her 29 assists are the second-most in team history.
Now a three-time All-Patriot League selection (Third Team as a sophomore, First Team in each of the last two seasons), Hall has played every minute in goal for the Bison this season and is tied for the Patriot League lead with eight shutouts. She enters the postseason red hot with five clean sheets in her last seven, and she has made at least five saves in each of her last eight outings.
Hall leads all Patriot League keepers in both total saves (110) and save percentage (.853), and her 6.1 saves per game rank 13th in the nation. Her 322 career saves are 11th-most among all active Division I players, and her 11 wins and eight shutouts this season are both tied for fourth-most in team history.
Freshman Riley Hayes was the hero in last week's 2-1 win at Lehigh, which the Bison needed in order to claim the No. 2 seed. Bucknell fell behind on a Ryelle Shuey goal in the 50th minute, but Henna Andican equalized on a rebound five minutes later. In the 72nd minute, Deda maneuvered around a defender and had two close-range shots saved, but Hayes scored on the third try for her first collegiate goal. She became the first Bison freshman to score this season.
Andican's name can be found near Deda's at the top of the Patriot League leaderboards. The sophomore is having a breakout season with six goals and seven assists. She ranks fifth in the league in goals, third in assists, and third in points (19).
Along with Deda and Andican, Temple (4-3-11), Hannah Stuck (2-4-8), Reese Evans (3-1-7), Kelley Francis (3-0-6), Katie Schiano (1-4-6), and Meghan White (1-4-6) are other top point-producers.
Bucknell is the two-time defending Patriot League champion. Last season, the second-seeded Bison won penalty-kick shootouts against Boston University and Army in the Patriot League Tournament, and then dropped a 1-0 overtime decision at Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament.
Seniors Jenna Hall, Hannah Stuck, and Brooke Tracey are this year's team captains.
Kelly Cook is in her ninth season as Bucknell's head coach, and she has led the Bison to four Patriot League championships in her first eight years. Cook owns an 82-58-23 (.574) overall record at Bucknell, including a 45-18-14 (.675) 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.
Cook has two new assistant coaches in 2023, as former Clarion head coach Alexa Ream and goalkeepers coach PJ Steiner have joined the program.

Boston University at a Glance

The penalty spot proved big for the Terriers in their quarterfinal win over Lehigh on Sunday. Down 2-1 after conceding an own goal in the 58th minute, Boston University drew level on Giulianna Gianino's spot kick in the 78th. After two scoreless OT periods, goalkeeper Celia Braun saved three PKs, and the Terriers prevailed 2-1 in the shootout.
Boston University went 4-3-2 in Patriot League play during the regular season, including a dominant 4-0 Senior Day win over American on the penultimate match day of the season to solidify a top-four seed.
The Terriers feature a number of potent goal-scorers and have 30 goals in 19 matches this season. They are the league's third-highest scoring team, one spot behind Bucknell with 31 goals.
Gianino leads the team in goals (7), assists (4), and points (18), followed by Natalie Godoy (6-3-15), Abigail McNulty (4-2-10), Morgan Fagan (3-2-8), and Mackenzie Stickelman (3-1-7).
Like Bucknell's Jenna Hall, Braun has played every minute in goal for the Terriers this season. The Third Team All-Patriot League selection has 76 saves with 27 goals against in 19 appearances.
McNulty and Gianino were both First Team All-Patriot League selections. Godoy was a Second Team pick, and Fagan, Braun and Stickelman were Third Team honorees. Gianino was the 2022 Rookie of the Year, and McNulty is now a three-time all-leaguer.
Godoy and Hall were former teammates at Miss Porter's School in Connecticut.

The Bucknell-Boston University Series

Bucknell holds a 7-5-3 edge in 15 all-time meetings, with five of those clashes coming in the postseason. Bucknell is 7-1-3 in the last 10 after the Terriers won the first four.
This will be the sixth meeting between these two teams in the last six years, as the Bison and Terriers are set to clash in the postseason for the third straight campaign.
Bucknell won 1-0 in Boston in the 2021 Patriot League Tournament final, and the Bison prevailed in penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw in last year's semifinals at Emmitt Field.
The Bison advanced 4-3 in penalty kicks in that semifinal matchup. Jenna Hall made seven saves during regulation and overtime, and she even chipped in with a goal in the shootout. Rylee Donaldson ultimately notched the winning PK, setting off a pitch-storming from the large student crowd. The Bison then went on to beat Army in another shootout in the final.
In addition to the last two Patriot League Tournament results, 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.
These two teams played a wild one at Emmitt Field back on Oct. 14, finishing in a 3-3 draw in a driving rainstorm. The Bison overcame an early goal and took the lead twice in the second half, only for the Terriers to answer each time. Kelley Francis, Teresa Deda, and Paige Temple all scored for the Bison. Morgan Fagan scored twice and Margy Porta once for the Terriers, with Porta's goal making it 3-3 in the 78th minute.

Up Next

The Bucknell-Boston University winner will advance to the Patriot League championship match on Sunday at 1 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
Top-seeded Army will host the final if it wins on Thursday, but if sixth-seeded Colgate advances, either the Bison or the Terriers would host.

Women's Soccer Hosts Boston University in PL Semifinals Thursday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Teresa Deda

Rylee Donaldson

Reese Evans

Kelley Francis

Kelley Francis

Jenna Hall

Jenna Hall

Riley Hayes

Katie Schiano

Katie Schiano

Hannah Stuck

Paige Temple

Brooke Tracey

Brooke Tracey

Meghan White

Women's Soccer Hosts Boston University in PL Semifinals Thursday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Teresa Deda

Rylee Donaldson

Reese Evans

Kelley Francis

Kelley Francis

Jenna Hall

Jenna Hall

Riley Hayes

Katie Schiano

Katie Schiano

Hannah Stuck

Paige Temple

Brooke Tracey

Brooke Tracey

Meghan White

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