Women's Soccer Heads to Holy Cross Saturday

Bucknell (6-3-2, 1-1-1 PL) at Holy Cross (2-4-4, 0-1-2 PL)
When: Saturday, Sept. 30, 1 p.m.
Where: Linda Johnson Smith Soccer Stadium, Worcester, Mass.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoHolyCross.com

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison saw their six-match unbeaten streak come to an end on a rainy night at West Point last Saturday, and now they will try to bounce back with another road test at Holy Cross.
Bucknell got out to a great start at Army, taking a 1-0 lead on a goal by Henna Andican in the 25th minute. But things went south in the second half, as the Black Knights tied it up just 97 seconds after the resumption of play and then added two more goals in a 3-1 verdict. The last of those came in the 84th minute after the Bison had gone down to 10 players after a second yellow card was assessed to Teresa Deda.
Bucknell is 1-1-1 in Patriot League play, with a 0-0 draw at Colgate and a 1-0 win over American preceding the Army game. The Bison enter the weekend in a five-way tie for third place with four points. Loyola is the lone remaining unbeaten, followed by Lafayette at 2-1 and then Bucknell, Boston University, Army, American, and Colgate at 1-1-1.
In addition to seeing its six-match unbeaten streak (4-0-2) come to an end, Saturday's loss also halted Bucknell's 12-match unbeaten streak (6-0-6) against Patriot League opponents. Bucknell's last loss to a conference foe came at Navy in the first round of league play 53 weeks earlier.
Bucknell had also amassed 524:22 straight scoreless minutes against Patriot League foes dating back to last season, until Brigid Duffy scored for Army early in the second half.
Sophomore striker Henna Andican is this week's Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week, her second such honor of the season. Andican scored the game's opening goal against both American and Army last week, and she now has a team-high five goals on the season.
Andican ranks second in the Patriot League in goals, one behind Loyola's Baylee DeSmit with six. Andican is also second in points (14), fifth in assists (4), and first in both shots (44) and shots on goal (24).
The Bison will have to play without Deda on Saturday, The junior is the reigning Patriot League Midfielder of the Year and the league's third-leading point producer with 13 (4G, 5A).
Reese Evans is third on the team with three goals, and Katie Schiano, Paige Temple, and Meghan White all have a goal and three assists.
Jenna Hall, the 2022 Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, has an .805 save percentage to rank third in the Patriot League. Her 5.6 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 that is still unbeaten at 4-0-5, followed by three straight wins over La Salle (3-1), Colorado College (5-2), and Air Force (2-1).
Bucknell has scored 17 goals in its five wins this season, with a high of five in a come-from-behind 5-2 verdict over Colorado College.
Bucknell's 20 goals on the season are the second-most in the Patriot League. Navy now has 28 goals after piling up 11 against Division III Marymount on Monday.
The Bison lead the league with 166 shot attempts. Navy ranks second with 154.
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 77-58-21 (.561) overall record at Bucknell, including a 41-18-12 (.662) 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.

Holy Cross at a Glance

In three Patriot League matches, the Crusaders have yet to score a goal but have conceded only once and stand at 0-1-2. After falling 1-0 at Lafayette on Sept. 16, Holy Cross posted back-to-back scoreless draws against Army and American.
The three straight scoreless outings are on the heels of Holy Cross' best offensive night of the season in a 4-0 win over Vermont on Sept. 7. The Crusaders also own a 2-1 win over Bryant and 1-1 draws with Maine and Central Connecticut.
Cerys Balmer leads the team with four goals, all coming in a five-game span earlier in the season. Sydney Baldwin has two goals and two assists, and Karenna Beckstein has one goal and one assist.
Three different Crusaders have started games in goal this season. Julia Walsh has a team-high five starts, and she leads the Patriot League with an .842 save percentage. Walsh has 16 saves with only three goals against, and she has registered all three of the team's shutouts.
Head coach Ben Graham is in his second season in charge of the Crusaders. Formerly the Holy Cross men's team's associate head coach, Graham guided a rebuilding team to a 2-11-4 overall record and a 2-6-1 mark in the Patriot League a year ago.

The Bucknell-Holy Cross Series

Bucknell is 24-6-2 all-time against Holy Cross, but the Crusaders ended Bucknell's long run of dominance with a 3-0 win in Worcester in the final game of the 2019 regular season. That result clinched a Patriot League Tournament berth for Holy Cross while knocking Bucknell out of the postseason.
Prior to that game, Bucknell had won 14 straight against Holy Cross by a combined 36-6 margin.
Bucknell is 12-3-1 all-time in Worcester and 12-2-1 in Lewisburg.
The Bison have won the last eight meetings at Emmitt Field, with Holy Cross's last win here coming in 2004 (3-0).
The two teams have met just once in the postseason, a 1-0 Holy Cross win in the 2000 Patriot League semifinals in Hamilton, N.Y.
In last year's clash at Emmitt Field, Bucknell broke open a 1-1 tie with four goals in a span of 10 minutes on the way to a 5-1 win. Abby Gearhart scored two goals, including the go-ahead marker from long range in the 66th minute. Henna Andican, Teresa Deda, and Hannah Stuck also scored, and Andican added two assists.
In the most recent matchup in Worcester in 2019, Claire Mensi and Rylee Donaldson scored second-half goals in Bucknell's 2-0 win. Mensi, who saw two shots ring off the goalpost in the first half, scored from the penalty spot in the 50th minute, and Donaldson scored a terrific insurance marker after Kenar Gelman expertly bent a long pass around the defense.

The Road Ahead

Bucknell is currently in a stretch of three games out of four on the road, but the home fixture comes on Friday, Oct. 6 against Navy at 7 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Teresa Deda

Rylee Donaldson

Reese Evans

Abby Gearhart

Kenar Gelman

Jenna Hall

Katie Schiano

Hannah Stuck

Paige Temple

Brooke Tracey

Meghan White