Women's Soccer on Road Friday to Face Navy

Friday, October 11

Annapolis, Md.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

Navy

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

10/10/2024 12:12:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Bucknell (7-3-2, 3-1 PL) at Navy (8-6-1, 2-1-1 PL)
When: Friday, Oct. 11, 7 p.m.
Where: Glenn Warner Soccer Facility, Annapolis, Md.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: NavySports.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Round five out of nine of Patriot League women's soccer action gets going on Friday night when Bucknell travels to Navy in a matchup of two teams trying to improve their position in the top half of the table. At 3-1 in league play, the Bison are tied with Army on nine points, although the Black Knights hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. Navy is 2-1-1 for seven points, and the Mids are locked in a three-way tie for fourth place with Holy Cross and Lafayette.
Friday's battle features the Patriot League's highest-scoring team (Navy at 2.2 goals per game) against the league's second-ranked defensive side (Bucknell with 1.00 goals-against average).
The Bison are coming off a 1-0 Senior Day win over Holy Cross on Saturday. Defensive midfielder Sydney Hess scored her first goal of the year off a corner kick in the 67th minute, and that was all Bucknell needed as the defense limited the Crusaders to three shots on target in the match. Holy Cross had been in first place heading into the day, but the loss knocked them down into a tie for fourth.
Bucknell now has six team shutouts this season, and junior goalkeeper Jess Benattar has four solo clean sheets. Benattar has played in 10 games this season, and she leads the Patriot League and ranks 25th nationally in GAA at 0.51. Her .846 save percentage (22 saves, 4 GA) is third-best in the league, behind only Lafayette's Catherine Apker (.850) and Holy Cross' Julia Walsh (.849).
Bucknell has been stout defensively even with the introduction of a new starting goalkeeper (Benattar) and two first-time starters at center back (senior Laura Schmidt and sophomore Julia Palitti). The Bison have used the same back four in every game this season, with outside backs Katie Schiano and Meghan White flanking Schmidt and Palitti. Schiano was the PL Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
The Bison started league play with wins over Colgate and American before falling 1-0 at home to Army. Bucknell had been unbeaten in 17 straight home games (11-0-6) against Patriot League opponents dating back to a 1-0 loss to Navy in the COVID-modified 2021 spring season.
Teresa Deda assisted on all three goals in Bucknell's 3-1 win at American, giving her 35 career assists. That tied the Bucknell record, originally set by Hall-of-Famer Lisa Gibbons from 1991-94.
Deda is tied with Navy's Amanda Graziano for the Patriot League lead with six assists this season. Deda is third in the league in goals with six and second in points with 18.
Deda now ranks eighth in Bucknell history with 73 career points (19G, 35A). Deda was the Patriot League Preseason Midfielder of the Year, and she was also one of 44 players named to the 2024 Hermann Trophy Watch List. The Hermann Trophy is given to the national player of the year.
Deda ranks fifth among all active Division I players in career assists. The only players with more are Texas' Lexi Missimo (59) and Trinity Byars (36), Pitt's Sarah Schupansky (41), and Auburn's Anna Haddock (41). Missimo and Haddock are both in their fifth years.
The Bison have scored 17 goals in 12 games thus far. Deda leads the way with six goals and six assists, and two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week Katie Connell has four goals. Henna Andican, who is out with an injury, and Reese Evans have two goals each, and Hess, Kelley Francis, and Presley Sutter have one apiece.
Bucknell has been shown only two yellow cards all season, with both coming at FDU on Sept. 15. The two yellows are the second-fewest in the nation. Northern Arizona has been cautioned just once, and Bryant also has two.
Bucknell has captured three straight Patriot League championships, which is a rarity in the league's history. Before Bucknell, the most recent to do it was Boston University, which won titles in its first three seasons as a league member in 2013-15. Prior to that, it was Colgate winning six in a row from 1994-99 and three straight from 1990-92 during the league's infancy.
The Bison are one of only seven Division I teams that have won at least their last three league titles. The other six are Memphis (AAC), Florida State (ACC), Saint Louis (A10), Georgetown (Big East), UC Irvine (Big West), and Milwaukee (Horizon).
Bucknell was picked a close second behind Army West Point in the preseason poll, with third-place Boston University also just a few points back. While Army was the top seed in each of the last two Patriot League Tournaments, the Bison prevailed in penalty-kick shootouts at West Point in the finals both times. Bucknell also won the 2021 championship on the road, clipping Boston University 1-0.
Bucknell finished 12-4-5 overall and 5-1-3 in the Patriot League last season. Seeded No. 2 in the Patriot League Tournament, the Bison defeated Boston University 3-1 in the semifinals and then outlasted Army in a penalty-kick shootout to claim the title.
Bucknell faced a Big Ten opponent in the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, falling to Iowa 2-0 in overtime. It was a similar script as 2022 when the Bison and Ohio State played 90 scoreless minutes before the Buckeyes found the net late in overtime. This time it was the Hawkeyes scoring twice in the extra periods to swipe the first-round verdict.
Head coach Kelly Cook is in her 10th season at Bucknell, and she has led the Bison to five league titles in her first nine years. Cook owns a career record of 90-62-26 (.579) and a Patriot League mark of 48-19-14 (.679). She has the highest winning percentage of any coach in program history, and she needs four more wins to equal Ben Landis for the most in team history.
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.

Navy at a Glance

The Mids are 8-6-1 overall and 2-1-1 in the Patriot League thus far. They won their first two conference matches against Lehigh (3-0) and Loyola (4-3), and most recently they have a 3-0 home loss to Colgate and a 1-1 away draw at Boston University.
Navy has been a traditional Patriot League power, but the Mids are looking to bounce back from a rare postseason absence. Navy finished 9-7-3 overall last season but tied for eighth in the Patriot League table with a 3-6 conference record.
Head coach Carin Gabarra is in her 32nd season in Annapolis in 2024 and is the only coach in program history. Gabarra is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. During her playing days she won a gold medal at the 1996 Olympic Games and was the Golden Ball recipient after leading the USWNT to the 1991 World Cup title.
This year's team has scored 33 goals and conceded 26 in 15 games. Amanda Graziano (4-6-14), Alexa Riddle (5-3-13), Marlee Heaven (5-0-10), Chiara Cosenza (4-2-10), Rylee Rivas (3-2-8), and Isabella Romano (3-1-7) are the team's top-point producers. Eleven different Mids have scored a goal, and 17 have registered at least one point.
Riddle recorded a hat trick and Graziano had three assists in Navy's wild 4-3 home win over Loyola.
Romano scored the equalizing goal late in the first half on Saturday's 1-1 draw at Boston University. Jaiden Schultz had given the Terriers the lead in the 33rd minute, but Romano leveled the match just 3:15 later.
Natasha Stamrood has played in all 15 games and started 13 for the Mids. She has 61 saves while conceding 21 times for a .744 save percentage and 1.70 GAA.

The Bucknell-Navy Series

Bucknell and Navy first met in 1994, and they have clashed at least once in every year since then. The Mids hold a 20-14-2 advantage in the series, although the Bison have won three of the last four.
Of Bucknell's 14 all-time wins against Navy, only five have come at home. The Bison have eight wins in Annapolis and another in Boston in the 2015 Patriot League Tournament.
The 2021 season was the first time Bucknell defeated Navy twice in the same season. The Bison won 4-2 at home in the regular season and 1-0 in overtime in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
Bucknell won 2-0 in Lewisburg last season thanks to first-half goals from Hannah Stuck and Kelley Francis. Goalkeeper Jenna Hall made six saves on the way to her school-record-tying 22nd career shutout. The Bison finished with a 20-16 shot advantage in a fast-paced match on a rainy Friday night at Emmitt Field.
The Bison would like to forget their last trip to Annapolis. These two teams met in the 2022 Patriot League opener, and Navy walked away with a convincing 4-0 win. Rylee Donaldson struck the post in the first minute of the match, but then it was all Navy the rest of the way. Alexa Riddle scored in the seventh minute, and Jenna Daunt (28'), Caitlin Doran (56'), and Marlee Heaven (76') added goals later on. The Bison quickly regrouped, however, and never lost another game on the way to the league title.
Among active Bucknell players, Francis and Teresa Deda have two career goals against Navy. Both of Deda's goals came in 2021, the latter a golden goal in overtime in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.

The Road Ahead

Following the trip back from Annapolis, the Bison will prep for a two-game set next week. Bucknell hosts Loyola on Wednesday at 7 p.m., and then the Bison go back on the road the following Sunday to face Boston University.