Men's Soccer Opens NCAA Tournament Play Thursday at Providence

SELECTION SHOW INTERVIEWS WITH COACH DAVE BRANDT AND SENIOR JACK ROBERTO:

Bucknell (7-6-6, 4-1-4 PL) at #25 Providence (12-5-3, 5-1-2 Big East)
What: 2024 NCAA Tournament First Round
When: Thursday, Nov. 21, 7 p.m.
Where: Chapey Field at Anderson Stadium
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: NCAA.com

BUY TICKETS | NCAA Tournament Bracket

Bucknell capped off a remarkable turnaround by capturing Patriot League regular-season and tournament titles in 2024. One year after finishing at the bottom of the 10-team table and picked ninth in this year's preseason coaches' poll, the Bison are back in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time. Bucknell went 4-1-4 in league play and was seeded No. 2 in the Patriot League Tournament after sharing the regular-season title with Boston University. The Bison received a bye into the PL semifinals where they outlasted No. 3 American in penalty kicks, and then they routed No. 4 Colgate 3-0 in the title match on Saturday in front of more than 1,400 fans at Emmitt Field.

How the Bison Got Here
• Bucknell earned the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League tournament after tying Boston University on 16 points with a 4-1-4 Patriot League record. The Bison continued a late-season trend of second-half goals with a Jack Lucas goal to level the score with Lafayette and clinch a post-season bye. Bucknell earned its first Patriot League Tournament berth since 2019 and its first postseason match at Emmitt Field since 2019.
• The Bison defeated No. 3 American in penalties in its Patriot League Tournament semifinal match. Lucas scored on a first-half penalty kick but the Eagles equalized in the second half, and it finished 1-1 after 110 minutes. American had already seen penalties as it defeated Loyola via a shootout in its quarterfinal match. Both teams started 3-for-3 in the shootout. Drew Roskos, goalkeeper Freddie Lapworth, and Lucas for a second time all fired shots home for Bucknell. Lapworth came up with a big fourth-round save after the Bison missed from the spot. The Bison continued to convert in the later rounds, and a seventh-round miss by American sent Bucknell to the final.
• The Bison went on to defeat fourth-seeded Colgate in the Patriot League title match to secure their first championship in 10 years. Before Saturday's final, Colgate had never lost a Patriot League championship match, and the Raiders were coming off an upset of top-seeded Boston University. Bucknell put on one its best performances of the season, scoring a season high three goals while producing its eighth shutout of the season. Waldemar Kattrup's 11th minute goal set the tone, and the Bison used second-half goals by Roskos and Nick Prime to cruise to its fifth Patriot League title. Prime, a senior substitute, scored his first career goal in his final appearance at Emmitt Field.
• Bucknell is 4-1-1 all time in Patriot League championship matches. Its only loss came against Army in double overtime back in 1993.

Bucknell in Patriot League Championship Matches:
1993: #4 Army 4, #3 Bucknell 2 (2OT) – Bison fall in double overtime
2006: #4 Bucknell 0, #2 Lafayette 0 – Bison advance via PKs, 4-3
2009: #3 American 0, #1 Bucknell 1 – Brendan Burgdorf scores lone goal in 15th minute
2010: #4 Bucknell 2, #3 American 0 – Tommy McCabe and Ross Liberati link up for two first-half goals
2014: #5 Bucknell 3, #1 Boston U. 2 – Sebastiaan Blickman scores in double overtime
2024: #4 Colgate 0, #2 Bucknell 3 – Bison thrash Colgate for three goals and a clean sheet

• It has been an incredible turnaround season for the Bison after finishing last season at the bottom of the table with a 2-10-4 overall record and a 1-6-2 record in the Patriot League. The only other team to finish this season with a regular-season conference title after finishing in last place in its previous season was North Florida in the Atlantic Sun Conference. North Florida went 4-2-1 with 13 points this season after finishing 0-6-1 with one point in 2023. The Ospreys went on to defeat Central Arkansas in penalties in the Atlantic Sun title match to clinch an NCAA berth. They will travel to West Virginia for a first-round fixture.

Getting Defensive
• Bucknell is in the midst of one of its best defensive seasons in recent history. The Bison have allowed just 19 goals in its 19 matches for a 0.99 goals-against average. The Bison allowed just five goals in their nine Patriot League regular-season matches.
• Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year Freddie Lapworth started all 19 games, producing eight shutouts for the Bison. Lapworth's eight shutouts are fourth-best in Bison history, two away from tying Mark Wrigley (1993), Adam Edwards (2002), Tommy Caso (2009) for the single-season mark.
• This year's team enters the NCAA Tournament with four shutouts in its last six games and is unbeaten during this stretch. The Bison allowed just two goals during that span, giving up first half goals to Lafayette on Nov. 1 and to American in the semifinal match.
• Bucknell's 0.99 goals-against average is the best in the Patriot League and 34th-best among the Division I teams.
• Lapworth's eight shutouts rank 7th in Division I.
• In front of Lapworth are three stalwart center backs in Aidan Lawlor, Ben Sheffield, and Collin Sullivan. Lawlor was a First Team All-Patriot League selection and the Patriot League Tournament MVP.
• Collin Sullivan was part of a brother-for-brother lineup swap. Jackson Sullivan has been a three-year starting defender and is a team captain as a junior this year. He broke his collarbone in the Binghamton game on Oct. 8 and has been out ever since. Younger brother Collin, a freshman, has stepped into Jackson's spot in the lineup and the team has not skipped a beat.

The Bison in the NCAA Tournament
• The Bison are back in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time overall, and they are seeking their first NCAA win since 2009 at Princeton.
• Bucknell has an all-time record of 3-6-1 in NCAA Tournament action. The wins came in 1974 against Penn State, in 2006 against George Mason, and in 2009 against Princeton. Bucknell also played a 0-0 draw with Fairleigh Dickinson in 1973 before falling in penalty kicks.

Bucknell NCAA Tournament Matches:
1974 — at Penn State, W 1-0
at Philadephia Textile, L 1-0 (2OT)
1975 — at Fairleigh Dickinson, T 0-0 (FDU adv. via PK 7-6)
1976 — at Temple, L 4-0
2006 — at George Mason, W 1-0
at Virginia, L 4-0
2009 — at Princeton, W 1-0
at Virginia, W 5-0
2010 — at Penn, L 1-0
2014 — at UNC Wilmington, L 2-0
2024 — at Providence (Nov. 21)

Awards Time
• Bucknell was well-represented in the postseason awards programs. Junior Freddie Lapworth (Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year) and Dave Brandt (PL Coach of the Year) both received major awards. Lapworth, Jimmy Pombor, and Aidan Lawlor all earned First Team All-Patriot League honors.
• The trio are the first Bucknell players to be named to the First Team since Matt Thorsheim in the 2021 Spring season.
• This is the fifth time a Bucknell coach has been selected as the Coach of the Year, and Brandt became the third different coach in Bison history to be honored. In his third year as head coach, Brandt led the Bison to a Patriot League regular-season co-championship with Boston University and its first winning season in Patriot League play since 2017.
• Lapworth became Bucknell's third Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, and he earned his first All-Patriot League First Team selection.
• Lawlor also notched his first Patriot League honor with a First Team selection. The senior center back made 15 starts in his first three seasons as a Bison before making 13 starts and 16 appearances this season.
• Lawlor also earned a spot on the 11-man Academic All-Patriot League Team.
• Pombor earned his first All-Patriot League honor in his first season for the Bison after transferring from Lock Haven. Pombor settled in nicely, playing as a holding central midfielder. Pombor, Lapworth, and Ben Sheffield were the only Bison to start in all 19 games this season. Pombor came up with one of Bucknell's biggest moments of the season. Deadlocked with Colgate late in the regular season, Pombor combined with Drew Roskos for a sweet goal in the 83rd minute to give the Bison a 1-0 victory. The win put the Bison in first place in the Patriot League at the time and played a big role in helping Bucknell secure a top-two seed in the tournament.

Bucknell vs. Providence
• This will be the first-ever meeting between Bucknell and Providence.
• Providence, ranked No. 25 in the latest United Soccer Coaches Poll, comes in with a 12-5-3 record after falling 2-1 to Georgetown in the Big East championship match on Sunday.
• The Friars were the No. 2 seed after going 5-1-2 in Big East play and sharing the East Division title, and they defeated Connecticut and St. John's to reach the conference final.
• Providence has scored 25 goals in 20 games with balanced scoring. Bruno Rosa (5-5-15), Israel Dos Santos Neto (5-2-12), and Colgate graduate transfer Aidan Davock (4-1-9) are the team's top scorers. Providence has had 11 different goalscorers this season with five players who have scored multiple goals.
• Goalkeeper Lukas Burns backstops a defense that has conceded 19 goals on the season. Burns and the Friars have recorded seven clean sheets this season.
• The Bucknell-Providence winner will advance to the Second Round against ninth-seeded Clemson. The Tigers has won two of the last three NCAA College Cups.

Notes & Notables
• Bucknell is 6-3 all-time in penalty shootouts in the Patriot League and NCAA Tournaments.
• Goalkeeper Freddie Lapworth was a penalty-taker in Bucknell's semifinal shootout against American. Lapworth smashed home a penalty into the side netting before making a crucial save a couple of rounds later.

Bucknell in Penalty-Kick Shootouts:
1975 NCAA First Round vs. Farleigh Dickinson: Lost 7-6
1993 PL Semifinals vs. Colgate: Won 4-3
2004 PL Semifinals vs. Lehigh: Lost 6-5
2006 PL Semifinals vs. Lehigh: Won 4-1
2006 PL Championship vs. Lafayette: Won 4-3
2007 PL Semifinals vs. Colgate: Lost 3-2
2014 PL Semifinals vs Navy: Won 5-4
2016 PL Quarterfinals vs. Boston University: Won 4-1
2024 PL Semifinals vs. American: Won 6-5

• Drew Roskos is having an excellent debut season for the Bison. The former high school wrestling standout is tied with Jack Lucas to lead the Bison with three goals on the season. The freshman forward is second on the team with nine points.
• Roskos ranks sixth in both shots (2.00 Avg/G) and shots on target (0.76) in the Patriot League.
• Waldemar Kattrup is tied for second-most game-winning goals in the Patriot League with two this year. Both goals were beautiful long-range efforts.
• Kattrup scored an 85th minute winner against Army to give the Bison three points. His 11th minute goal in the Patriot League Championship was credited for a game-winning goal.
• David Krumov, Jack Lucas, and Cade Whitmire lead the Bison and all rank fourth in the PL with four assists each this season. Krumov and Whitmire each provided a helper in Bucknell's 3-0 win over Colgate in the Patriot League Championship.
• Lucas has converted two penalties in regulation time this season. He converted a first-half penalty kick to give the Bison a 1-0 lead in the Patriot League semifinal against American. Lucas also converted his penalty in the shootout.
• Six different Bison totaled eight Patriot League Weekly Awards this season.

2024 Patriot League Weekly Awards
Cohen Weaver, PL Midfielder of the Week (9/16)
Freddie Lapworth, PL Goalkeeper of the Week (9/23, 9/30)
Ben Sheffield, PL Defender of the Week (10/7)
Drew Roskos, PL Rookie of the Week (10/7, 10/28)
Jimmy Pombor, PL Midfielder of the Week (10/28)
Jack Lucas, PL Midfielder of the Week (11/4)

Bucknell's 2024 Record When ...
• Scoring first — 7-0-1
• Allowing first goal — 0-6-3
• Leading at half — 5-0-0
• Tied at half — 2-4-1
• Trailing at half — 0-5-1

Head Coach Dave Brandt
• Dave Brandt earned Bucknell's fifth Patriot League Coach of the Year award, and he became the third different coach in Bison history to be honored. In his third year as head coach, Brandt led the Bison to a Patriot League regular-season co-championship with Boston University and its first winning season in Patriot League play since 2017. This was Brandt's first appearance with the Bison in the Patriot League Tournament
• Dave Brandt is Bucknell's 14th full-time head coach and just the third dating back to 1967. Brandt brought with him a remarkable career record of 355-86-41 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.
• Dave Brandt is Bucknell's 14th full-time head coach and just the third dating back to 1967. Brandt brought with him a remarkable career record of 355-86-41 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.

Next Up
• The winner of the Bucknell-Providence match will travel to Clemson on Sunday. The defending national champions are seeded ninth this year and received a bye into the second round.

Men's Soccer Opens NCAA Tournament Play Thursday at Providence

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Players Mentioned

Waldemar Kattrup

David Krumov

Freddie Lapworth

Aidan Lawlor

Jack Lucas

Jimmy Pombor

Nick Prime

Drew Roskos

Ben Sheffield

Collin Sullivan

Jackson Sullivan

Cohen Weaver

Cade Whitmire