Men's Soccer Heads to Colgate Saturday Evening

Saturday, October 7

Hamilton, N.Y.

5 p.m.

Bucknell University

Colgate

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

10/4/2023 10:29:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Bucknell (1-7-2, 0-3-1 PL) at Colgate (3-7-1, 1-2-1 PL)
When: Saturday, Oct. 7, 5 p.m.
Where: Beyer-Small '76 Field, Hamilton N.Y.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: ColgateAthletics.com

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison hit the road Saturday to face Colgate in a key Patriot League clash.
Bucknell used an 84th-minute equalizer from Zane Domsohn to salvage a point in a frenetic 3-3 draw with American on Sunday. Even though the Bison sit bottom of the table through four rounds of league play, they are just three points behind Holy Cross and Colgate for a top-six placement and a potential postseason berth.
Boston University and Loyola are both 3-0-1 and share the league lead with 10 points. Lafayette (3-1-0) is third and Navy (2-0-1) fourth.
Bucknell led twice in the American game on Sunday at Emmitt Field. Charlie Holmes scored the opening goal on a penalty kick, and Brennan Gac scored on a diving header late in the half to make it 2-1. The Eagles scored twice in the second stanza to take the lead, but Domsohn headed in Marco Valentic's corner kick with 6:34 remaining
Bucknell has seen a senior score his first collegiate goal in each of the last two games. First it was Matthew Owusu from the penalty spot against Loyola last Wednesday, and then Gac opened his account with a spectacular goal against American.
Bucknell could easily have more points in the Patriot League standings if not for some bad luck against the two service academies. The Bison outshot Army 18-6 and led 10-1 in corner kicks but lost the match 2-1. A week later at Navy, Bucknell again played very well for long stretches but fell 1-0 on an 87th-minute crossing attempt that floated inside the back post.
Bucknell has 10 goals in 10 matches this season, including a team-high three from Holmes. Domsohn has two, and Owusu, Gac, Waldemar Kattrup, Ben Sheffield, and Aidan Kieffer have one each. Nine different Bison have an assist, with Valentic leading the way with two.
Domsohn, a sophomore striker, now has five career goals, putting him only 47 behind his father, Dave, a 1989 Bucknell graduate who is the program's all-time leading scorer and a member of the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame.
Coach Dave Brandt has gone deep into his bench throughout the campaign. The Bison have averaged 20.8 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 900 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 up a hard-fought 0-0 draw against George Mason on Sept. 8.
Freddie Lapworth has started eight of the 10 games in goal this season, and his backup, Jake Nicoll, is 1-0-1 in his two starts. Nicoll presided over the Mount St. Mary's win with Lapworth serving a red-card suspension from the last game of the 2022 season, and Nicoll back between the pipes against American with Lapworth down with an injury.
Bucknell went 3-12-2 in a rebuilding year in 2022 but played very well down the stretch. The Bison dropped a hard-fought 2-1 verdict at No. 4 Syracuse, the eventual national champion, then finished up with a 4-1 win over Holy Cross and draws with Colgate and Loyola, two of the Patriot League's better sides.
Bucknell was picked ninth in the Patriot League preseason poll. Defending champion Navy was chosen as the preseason favorite, just four points ahead of Boston University and five ahead of American.
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.

Colgate at a Glance

The Raiders are 3-7-1 overall and 1-2-1 in Patriot League play thus far. They started league play with a good 1-0 road win over Lafayette, but since then they have fallen to Loyola (2-0) and Lehigh (2-1) and played Boston University to a scoreless draw.
Colgate also has mid-week non-league losses to Yale (2-0) and Syracuse (1-0), extending its winless streak to five (0-4-1) dating back to the Lafayette game on Sept. 16.
Colgate's other wins came early in the season at home against Siena (2-0) and Binghamton (2-1).
The Raiders have been outscored 14-7 through 11 games. Senior Aidan Davock has four of the team's seven goals, coming against Marist, Binghamton, Lafayette, and Lehigh. Alejandro Coury and Mason Pahule have also found the back of the net, both coming in the season opener against Siena.
In goal, Andrew Cooke has made nine starts and Oliver Townend two. Townend had the net for the most recent league game against Boston University and made three saves in the 0-0 tie.
Head coach Erik Ronning, a former Colgate standout himself, is in his 19th season as head coach at his alma mater. After a winless 2021 season, his side was one of the nation's most improved a year ago, finishing 7-4-7 and qualifying for the Patriot League Tournament.
Colgate returned nine starters this season an was picked fourth in the Patriot League preseason poll.

The Bucknell-Colgate Series

Colgate has had the better of an all-time series that dates back to 1963. The Raiders hold a 29-11-10 mark against the Bison, although Bucknell has a win and three draws in the last four meetings.
Last season at Emmitt Field, Bucknell and Colgate finished in a 1-1 tie. Timmy Donovan gave Colgate a 1-0 lead with a header off a corner kick 30 minutes in, but Zane Domsohn's first career goal put the Bison on level terms just 3:39 into the second half.
Alex Clarke's penalty kick in the 79th minute was the difference in Bucknell's 1-0 Bison win in its last trip to Hamiton in 2021. It was a physical, defensive struggle with three red cards and only 13 total shots between the two sides.
Bucknell's previous win over Colgate in Hamilton was a 1-0 verdict in the 2010 Patriot League Tournament semifinals. The Bison would then go on to beat American 2-0 on the same field two days later to win their second straight league title.

Next Up

After the Colgate game, the Bison head back out on the road to face Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., the following Saturday, Oct. 14. That will be a noon start from Linda Johnson Smith Stadium.