Women's Soccer Set for Pivotal Week with Games against Top Two Teams in PL Table

Bucknell (7-3-3, 2-1-2 PL) at Loyola (9-3-0, 4-1-0)
When: Wednesday, Oct. 11, 7 p.m.
Where: Ridley Athletic Complex, Baltimore, Md.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: LoyolaGreyhounds.com

Boston University (6-4-3, 3-1-1 PL) at Bucknell (7-3-3, 2-1-2 PL)
When: Saturday, Oct. 14, 1 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell moved up to third place in the Patriot League standings after a 2-0 win over Navy on Friday, and now the Bison face both of the teams sitting ahead of them in the table this week. Bucknell travels to first-place Loyola on Wednesday and then hosts second-place Boston University on Saturday.
The Bison are 2-1-2 for eight points in the Patriot League standings. Loyola (4-1-0) remains on 12 points after suffering its first conference defeat at Army on Friday, and Boston University (3-1-1) is second on 10 points. Just behind Bucknell is a three-way tie with seven points between American, Army, and Colgate, followed by Lafayette and Holy Cross with six points apiece. Lehigh (4) and Navy (3) sit at the bottom of the table despite winning overall records.
Bucknell's defeat of Navy extended its home unbeaten streak to 12 games (7-0-5) dating back to last season. The team's last home loss was more than a full year ago, a 2-0 defeat to Princeton Sept. 27, 2022.
Bucknell is also unbeaten in its last 13 home matches (8-0-5) against Patriot League opponents dating back to a 1-0 loss to Navy in the COVID-modified Spring 2021 season.
Hannah Stuck and Kelley Francis scored first-half goals, and Jenna Hall made six saves en route to a milestone shutout in Friday's win over Navy. Stuck headed in Meghan White's long service into the box in the 15th minute, and then in the 42nd, Francis pounced on a loose ball in the box and gave the Bison a big insurance goal.
Hall recorded her 22nd career solo shutout, tying Jessica Ratner's team record. Ratner's 22 clean sheets came from 2013-16. Ten of those came during her senior year, when she helped the Bison to the Patriot League title.
After conceding three second-half goals in a 3-1 loss at Army on Sept. 23, the Bison have bounced back with back-to-back shutouts of Holy Cross and Navy.
Bucknell has outscored its opponents 22-15 on the season. The Bison have two double-digit point-producers in Henna Andican (5-4-14) and Teresa Deda (4-5-13), along with five others with at least five points: Reese Evans (3-1-7), Meghan White (1-4-6), Katie Schiano (1-3-5), Hannah Stuck (2-1-5), and Paige Temple (1-3-5).
Andican and Deda rank 2-3 in the Patriot League in points, trailing only Loyola's Baylee DeSmit (7-6-20).
Deda (4.27) and Andican (4.23) rank 1-2 in the Patriot League in shots per game, and Bucknell's 15.5 attempts per game as a team also lead the conference.
Hall, the 2022 Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, has an .831 save percentage to rank second in the Patriot League. Her 5.69 saves per game are the most in the conference.
The Bison went 5-2-1 in eight matches leading up to the conference opener. The only two losses came in succession to top-25 sides Georgetown and Pittsburgh, but after that they posted a 1-1 draw against a good Villanova team, followed by three straight wins over La Salle (3-1), Colorado College (5-2), and Air Force (2-1).
Bucknell has scored 19 goals in its five wins this season, with a high of five in a come-from-behind 5-2 verdict over Colorado College.
Two Baltimore-area natives will be returning home for the Loyola game. Reserve forward Kalli Wethern is from Sykesville and attended McDonogh High School, where she was teammates with Loyola's Baylee DeSmit. Reserve back Laura Schmidt is from White Hall and starred at Hereford High School.
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 a 78-58-22 (.563) overall record at Bucknell, including a 42-18-13 (.664) mark in Patriot League play.
Cook has two new assistant coaches in 2023, as former Clarion head coach Alexa Ream and goalkeepers coach PJ Steiner have joined the program.

Loyola at a Glance

The Greyhounds have been the Patriot League's top side to date, leading the conference in overall (9) and league (4) wins.
Loyola is a perfect 8-0 at home this season, and it saw its seven-match overall winning streak come to an end with a 2-0 loss at Army on Friday. In its eight home contests this season, Loyola has outscored its opponents 19-2 while amassing a 111-41 shot advantage.
The Greyhounds began conference play with four straight wins over Boston University (1-0), Navy (1-0), Lafayette (2-1), and Colgate (4-0) by a combined margin of 8-1.
Loyola features the league's No. 1 scorer in junior midfielder Baylee DeSmit, who has seven goals and six assists on the season. DeSmit recorded braces against Lafayette and Longwood and also has goals against Dayton, Middle Tennessee State, and Colgate.
Loyola has plenty of other goal-scorers behind DeSmit, as Delaney DeMartino has four, and Elizabeth Gallagher, Chloe Kuminkoski, and Olivia Quaranta have two apiece.
Wednesday's game will feature a battle between each of the last two Patriot League Goalkeepers of the Year. Loyola's Paige Sim took the honor in 2021, and Bucknell's Jenna Hall received the award last season.
Sim, already a four-time All-Patriot League honoree who is playing her fifth season as a graduate student, has 29 saves and 10 goals against in 12 starts this season.
Junior midfielder Grace DenBleyker's father, Don, played baseball at Bucknell.
Loyola is outperforming its sixth-place prediction in the Patriot League Preseason Poll.

The Bucknell-Loyola Series

Bucknell is 6-4-4 all-time against Loyola and 6-1-4 in the last 11 games, although the Greyhounds have managed at least one point in each of the last four meetings.
Loyola won the first three games of the series in 1992, 1993, and 2007.
Bucknell won six straight meetings from 2013-18, but since then there have been three ties along with a 1-0 Loyola win in Baltimore during the spring 2021 season.
The Bison had posted five straight shutouts against the Greyhounds until Ada Clare Tempert scored in the 73rd minute in that spring 2021 game. That ended a Loyola scoreless string at 568 minutes against Bucknell.
Last season's 0-0 draw in Lewisburg was highlighted by a sensational goalkeeper battle between Jenna Hall (8 saves) and Paige Sim (7 saves). The scoreless finish was not indicative of the action, as the two teams went end-to-end throughout much of the second half. There were a combined 17 shot attempts in the final 45 minutes, and Hall and Sim both tallied five second-half saves. It was Sim providing the highlights early in the half. She saved Teresa Deda's 55th-minute penalty kick after Paige Temple drew a foul in the box, and then four minutes later she denied Petie Nassetta from point-blank range with a little help from defender Alex Searing sweeping the deflected shot off the goal line. Loyola forward Baylee DeSmit was a handful all night with a game-high seven shots, five of which were on target. Hall's three best saves all came on the Greyhounds' leading scorer, two of which she went up high to tip shots off the crossbar. The save of the night came in the 63rd minute, when DeSmit caught every bit of a volley on a bouncing ball in the box. Hall dove to her right and was able to palm away the hard shot.
In the last meeting in Baltimore in 2021, Rylee Donaldson scored off a Teresa Deda assist to give the Bison a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute, but Sarah Bayer equalized for Loyola 10 minutes later and the game finished in a 1-1 draw. Bucknell piled up a 22-7 shot advantage and a 14-4 edge in corner kicks.

Boston University at a Glance

The Terriers dropped their Patriot League opener at home to Loyola, but since then they are unbeaten in their last four, with plenty of goals going on the sheet. Boston University responded to the Loyola loss with a 2-0 win over Colgate, a 2-2 draw at Lehigh, a 3-2 win at Navy, and most recently a 4-2 home win over Lafayette.
Both goals in the Colgate game came in the final four minutes, with Mackenzie Stickelman putting Boston University ahead in the 87th minute followed by a Morgan Fagan insurance tally in the 89th.
All five goals in the Navy game came in the second half. The Terriers let a 2-0 lead slip away but won it on Abigail McNulty's goal in the 85th minute.
Boston University has outscored foes 19-18 in 13 games. Giulianna Gianino (5-3-13) leads the team in goals, assists, and points, and she comes into Wednesday's game against in-state rival Holy Cross with a three-game goal-scoring streak. Gianino was the 2022 Patriot League Rookie of the Year and a Second Team All-PL selection.
Natalie Godoy, who was a former teammate of Bucknell goalkeeper Jenna Hall at Miss Porter's School in Connecticut, has four goals, and Stickelman and McNulty have three each. McNulty has captured the last two Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Junior Celia Braun has played every minute in goal this season and has 48 saves with 18 goals against for a .727 save percentage.

The Bucknell-Boston University Series

Bucknell holds a 7-5-2 edge in 14 all-time meetings, with five of those clashes coming in the postseason. Bucknell is 7-1-2 in the last nine after the Terriers won the first four.
These two teams have met four times in the last two seasons, including twice in the postseason.
In last season's regular-season meeting in Boston, Bucknell won 1-0 on Teresa Deda's goal just 4:22 into the match. The Bison limited the Terriers to just seven total shots in the game.
A few weeks later, the two teams played 110 scoreless minutes in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, and the Bison advanced 4-3 in penalty kicks. 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.
These two teams also had a couple of tense battles during the 2021 season. With first place on the line late in the year, the Bison and Terriers played a scintillating 2-2 tie at Emmitt Field. They met again a few weeks later in the Patriot League championship match, and Bucknell prevailed 1-0 at Nickerson Field.
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.

The Road Ahead

After this week's pair of fixtures, Bucknell continues a busy stretch with a non-league game at Princeton on Tuesday, Oct. 17 followed by a Senior Day home game against Lafayette on Oct. 21.

Women's Soccer Set for Pivotal Week with Games against Top Two Teams in PL Table

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Teresa Deda

Teresa Deda

Rylee Donaldson

Rylee Donaldson

Reese Evans

Kelley Francis

Jenna Hall

Petie Nassetta

Katie Schiano

Laura Schmidt

Hannah Stuck

Paige Temple

Paige Temple

Brooke Tracey

Kalli Wethern

Meghan White

Women's Soccer Set for Pivotal Week with Games against Top Two Teams in PL Table

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Teresa Deda

Teresa Deda

Rylee Donaldson

Rylee Donaldson

Reese Evans

Kelley Francis

Jenna Hall

Petie Nassetta

Katie Schiano

Laura Schmidt

Hannah Stuck

Paige Temple

Paige Temple

Brooke Tracey

Kalli Wethern

Meghan White

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