Women's Lax Hosts American Saturday on Senior Day

American (6-7, 2-4 PL) at Bucknell (5-7, 1-4 PL)
When: Saturday, Apr. 15, 1 p.m.
Where: Graham Field, Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Follow on Twitter: @Bucknell_WLAX

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison women's lacrosse team has four games remaining in the regular season, three of them at home, and has some work to do to move up into Patriot League Tournament position. Bucknell enters Saturday's game against American with a 1-4 conference record but is only a half-game out of the sixth and final playoff spot. Colgate is also 1-4, and American and Boston University are just ahead at 2-4. In fact, the three teams immediately in front of the Bison – American, Boston University, and Holy Cross – are still on the schedule.
This is the last weekend game on the schedule, so the Bison will celebrate Senior Day prior to Saturday's contest. The 2023 squad has seven seniors: Carly Irvine, Caitlin McHale, Caroline Miller, Ella Payer, Lauren Rader, Symone Ryans, and Jamie Tsao.
Both teams will be looking to snap losing streaks on Saturday. The Bison have dropped three in a row, while the Eagles are winless in their last four, although three of those losses are to the three ranked teams in the Patriot League in Loyola, Army, and Navy.
Bucknell has been one of the Patriot League's top offensive teams this season, but the Bison are looking for some defensive improvement after yielding 63 goals in the last four games. After beating Lafayette 17-15 on March 25, the Bison have fallen 16-13 at Colgate, 17-13 at home to Lehigh, and 15-7 at No. 14 Army.
Bucknell ranks fourth in the Patriot League in scoring at 12.8 goals per game. A school-record streak of 10 straight games scoring 10 or more goals came to an end last week at West Point.
Last week's game was close for the better part of three quarters. The Bison trailed 8-7 into the final three minutes of the third quarter, but Army finished the game on a 7-0 run.
Allie Boyce scored four goals against the Black Knights – her third four-goal game in the last four outings, and she reached the 30-goal mark for the second straight year. Boyce leads the team with 33 goals, and her 2.75 goals per game rank fourth in the Patriot League. Boyce has a goal in every game this season and all but one in her career.
Boyce's 33 goals have come on only 49 shots, and her .673 shooting percentage is second-best in all of Division I lacrosse, barely trailing only Jessica Notaro of St. Bonaventure at .674. Boyce also ranks second nationally in free-position goals per game with 1.25, trailing only Michigan's Jill Smith (1.43).
As a team, Bucknell's .538 free-position percentage is seventh-best in the nation.
Taylor McClain (10-28-38), Emily Baird (20-7-27), Megan Krestinski (15-7-22), Alex Nesbitt (11-6-17), and Taylor Kopan (15-1-16) are also double-digit goal-scorers.
Baird recorded her third four-goal game of the season two weeks ago against Lehigh, and she has hit the 20-goal mark for the season. The middie also has 30 draw controls, 25 caused turnovers, and 25 ground balls. Her 2.08 caused turnovers per game are the most in the Patriot League and 15th-most in the nation.
Senior defender Ella Payer is having another big season. She is the only player in the Patriot League ranked in the top 10 in the league in ground balls (3rd, 2.50), draw controls (5th, 5.25), and caused turnovers (3rd, 1.58).
Payer recently became Bucknell's all-time leader in draw controls. She now has 182 in her career. The previous school record was 164, set by Bonnie Buechel during her outstanding career from 2006-09. Payer is a two-time Second Team All-Patriot League honoree and has garnered two Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week citations this season.
As a team, Bucknell ranks 10th nationally in caused turnovers per game with 10.75. That is also the highest average in the Patriot League.
The Bison are coming off a 6-10 season in 2022. Bucknell was 6-6 overall and 3-2 in the Patriot League after an 18-12 win over second-place Army, but the Bison dropped their final four games – two coming by just one goal – and finished one game out of a Patriot League Tournament spot.
Bucknell was picked to finish seventh in the Patriot League preseason poll. Loyola was tabbed the preseason favorite, followed by Army, Navy, Lehigh, Colgate, American, Bucknell, Boston University, Holy Cross, and Lafayette.
Payer is in her second year as a team co-captain, and she is joined this year by classmates Caitlin McHale and Caroline Miller.
Head coach Jackie Dando is in her fourth season as Bucknell's head coach, and she is joined by a new pair of assistants in Liza Oakley and Katie Lasater. Oakley handles the defense and draws, while Lasater works with the attackers and goalies.

American at a Glance/Series History

The Eagles started Patriot League play with back-to-back wins over Lafayette (16-15) and Holy Cross (12-7), but since then they have fallen to the top four teams in the league in No. 9 Loyola (19-7), No. 13 Army (18-10), Lehigh (16-11), and No. 23 Navy (17-8).
American has three games remaining: road contests at Bucknell and Colgate followed by a home date with Boston University.
The Eagles are the league's seventh-highest-scoring team with 11.5 goals per game.
American has received balanced scoring, with four players with at least 20 goals: Maddy Spratt (23-12-35), Kellie Linehan (24-8-32), Annabelle Jackson (24-5-29), and Hannah Spease (23-5-28).
Spease leads the team with 59 draw controls, followed by Lizzie De Guzman with 49.
Mary Alice Collins has started 11 of the team's 13 games in goal and has 96 saves with 128 goals allowed. She tallied a season-high 14 saves in a win over UC Davis on March 10.
Bucknell is 11-16 all-time against American. The Bison had won five straight in the series until falling 12-11 in D.C. last year. The Bison have won the last four meetings at Graham Field, including a 17-15 verdict in 2021.
Last year's 12-11 loss at American was a costly one. The Bison led 8-5 at the half after a seven-goal second quarter, but the Eagles scored four of the game's final five goals to steal the win. After American took an 11-10 lead on Alyssa Apuzzo's goal with 3:39 remaining, Taylor Kopan tied it 50 seconds later. Kendall Goldblum's fourth goal of the day with 1:26 remaining put AU back in front, and an offensive foul called against Bucknell with 30 seconds to play prevented a chance for a tying goal.

Looking Ahead

The Bison will play at home again on Wednesday when Loyola visits Graham Field at 5 p.m. That will be Bucknell's Pride Game, sponsored by Athlete Ally.

Women's Lax Hosts American Saturday on Senior Day

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Emily Baird

Allie Boyce

Carly Irvine

Taylor Kopan

Megan Krestinski

Taylor McClain

Caitlin McHale

Caroline Miller

Alex Nesbitt

Ella Payer

Lauren Rader

Symone Ryans

Jamie Tsao

Women's Lax Hosts American Saturday on Senior Day

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Emily Baird

Allie Boyce

Carly Irvine

Taylor Kopan

Megan Krestinski

Taylor McClain

Caitlin McHale

Caroline Miller

Alex Nesbitt

Ella Payer

Lauren Rader

Symone Ryans

Jamie Tsao

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