Men's Soccer Takes on Lafayette in Final Regular-Season Match at Emmitt Field

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

Happenings: Halloween event for kids starting at 6:30 p.m.

Bucknell at a Glance

Only four points separate first place from eighth place in the Patriot League standings, and with two rounds of league play remaining the postseason race continues to heat up heading into this weekend. Bucknell, currently the Patriot League leader, hosts sixth-place Lafayette on Friday at Emmitt Field.
At 4-1-2 in the PL, the Bison sit atop of the table with 14 points after last weekend's win over Colgate. At 3-1-3, Boston dropped to second in the table at 12 points after a 2-2 draw to American. American sits in third place with 11 points followed by Navy, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Loyola and Lehigh; all level with 10 points and a 3-3-1 record.
Bucknell hosts Lafayette in its final home match of the regular season before finishing on the road at Loyola on Tuesday. With a win over Lafayette, the Bison will clinch a top-two seed in the Patriot League tournament and its first postseason berth since 2019.
The Bison are coming off a 1-0 road win over Colgate on Saturday. The match was a stalemate until Jimmy Pombor's 83' goal secured three points for the Bison. Pombor and Drew Roskos linked up in Colgate's defensive third for a classy goal from the two.
This was Pombor's first career goal in a Bison jersey, helping him to his first Patriot League Midfielder of the Week selection. The assist helped Roskos earn his second Rookie of the Week award this season.
Bucknell has picked up two consecutive wins via late drama after Waldemar Kattrup's 85' minute game-winning goal against Army on October 20.
Sunday's shutout at Army was goalkeeper Freddie Lapworth's league-leading sixth of the season. Bucknell's 1.13 team goals-against average is the best in the Patriot League.
The Bison have scored 13 goals in 15 games this season, with the tallies spread among 11 different players. Drew Roskos and Ben Sheffield have two goals each, and Kattrup, Cade Whitmire, David Krumov, Jack Lucas, Cohen Weaver, Mason Lillis, Cade McGrath, and Pombor all have one each. The Bison have scored the fewest goals in the league, but they sit in first place after conceding only four times in seven PL matches.
Krumov, Lucas, and Whitmire are all tied for fourth in the Patriot League with three assists.
Roskos ranks third in the league in shots per game with 2.25.
Sheffield leads all Bison field players in minutes played with 1,226 of a possible 1,350. Sheffield, Lapworth, and Pombor are the only Bison to have started all 15 games this season. All told, 19 different Bucknell players have made at least one start.
Dave Brandt is Bucknell's 14th full-time head coach and just the third dating back to 1967. Brandt, who is now in his third season at Bucknell, brought with him a remarkable career record of 355-86-40 in stints at Messiah, Navy, and Hope. 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.

Lafayette at a Glance

The Leopards are 8-5-3 overall and 3-3-1 in the Patriot League. Lafayette has been in great form, winning their previous two matches and four of their last five.
Lafayette is coming off of a 1-0 win over Loyola on October 26. Andrey McIntyre's 31' goal was good enough for three points as Lafayette saw out its third clean sheet of the season.
The Leopards come to Lewisburg with a dangerous attack, leading the Patriot League with 23 goals scored, five more than the next closest team. They are the only team in the league with a positive goal ratio over the full season. Lafayette is third in shots on goal, averaging 4.38 per match.
Roy Biegon is tied with Holy Cross's Evan Jones for a league-leading six goals and a league-leading 14 points. McIntyre has scored in two consecutive matches and is tied for fifth in the league with four goals scored. Beaux Lizewski is tied for a league-leading five assists.
Lawrence Aydlett, Max Fujimori, Nicholas Liebich, Cole Duschang, and Cade Maglione each have two goals this season. The Leopards have had 10 different goal scorers this season and 11 players with at least one assist.
Defensively, the Leopards sit right behind the Bison, allowing 1.19 goals per match. Goalkeeper Griffin Huff leads the league with .909 goals allowed per game. In 11 games, Huff has made 35 saves and boasts a .778 save percentage. Huff has started in 11 of the Lafayette's 16 games so far this season.
Lafayette finished 4-2-3 and in third place in the Patriot League last season. The Leopards defeated American in penalties and shut out Loyola 2-0 before falling 1-0 to top-seeded Boston University in the Patriot League final.

The Bucknell-Lafayette Series

Bucknell and Lafayette first met all the way back in 1931, and the series is just about dead even. The Bison and Leopards have clashed 74 times, Lafayette holds a narrow 33-32-10 edge.
Bucknell has outscored Lafayette 102-93 all-time, but goals have been hard to come by in recent years. The Bison are 1-5-3 in their last nine games with the Leopards and have scored just one goal in that span.
That goal came from Michael Pavick just 9:24 into the match in Bucknell's 1-0 home victory in 2018. The Bison are scoreless in the last 570 minutes against Lafayette since that goal.
In the last meeting at Emmitt Field in 2022, Marcos Kitromilides converted a penalty kick in the 33rd minute, and the Bison could not find an equalizer despite a dominant second half. Bucknell outshot Lafayette 18-9, including a 14-3 edge in the second half.
Last season, the Leopards and the Bison fought to a 0-0 draw, the third occasion of this scoreline in the previous five matches since Bucknell's last victory. It was a defensive struggle, with Lafayette finishing with a 4-3 edge in total shots. Rex Aphen and Freddie Lapworth split the game in goal for the Bison, with Lapworth coming back from a five-game injury absence.

Next Up

After the Lafayette game, the Bison will head to Loyola on Tuesday, Nov. 5 for its final match of the regular season.

Men's Soccer Takes on Lafayette in Final Regular-Season Match at Emmitt Field

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Waldemar Kattrup

David Krumov

Freddie Lapworth

Mason Lillis

Jack Lucas

Cade McGrath

Jimmy Pombor

Drew Roskos

Ben Sheffield

Cohen Weaver

Cade Whitmire

Men's Soccer Takes on Lafayette in Final Regular-Season Match at Emmitt Field

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Waldemar Kattrup

David Krumov

Freddie Lapworth

Mason Lillis

Jack Lucas

Cade McGrath

Jimmy Pombor

Drew Roskos

Ben Sheffield

Cohen Weaver

Cade Whitmire

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