Women's Soccer Hosts Loyola in Patriot League Semifinal Thursday Night

#4 Loyola (8-5-5, 3-3-3 PL) at #1 Bucknell (11-4-2, 7-2 PL)
What: PenFed Credit Union Patriot League Tournament Semifinals
When: Thursday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

BUY TICKETS

For Bucknell Students: Free admission with ID; Free Bison scarfs and beanies (while supplies last)

Bucknell at a Glance

For the first time since 2016, Bucknell is the No. 1 seed in the PedFed Credit Union Patriot League Women's Soccer Tournament. The Bison received a bye into the semifinals and will play No. 4 Loyola, which downed No. 5 Colgate 3-0 in the quarterfinals on Sunday. The other semi will feature No. 2 Boston University hosting No. 3 Army West Point.
Bucknell clinched the No. 1 seed with a 2-0 win over Lehigh in the regular-season finale last Wednesday. The Bison finished 7-2 in league play for 21 points, two better than Boston University (5-0-4).
Bucknell finished atop the regular-season standings for the sixth time, and the Bison will be seeking their fourth straight and eighth all-time PL Tournament title.
Bucknell's only tournament title as the No. 1 seed came in its most recent opportunity in 2016. That year, the Bison finished 8-1 in PL play and defeated Lafayette and Boston University to claim the title at Emmitt Field.
Loyola joined the Patriot League in 2013, and this will be the first postseason meeting between the Bison and Greyhounds.
The stars will be out in this one, as Loyola scoring machine Baylee DeSmit, the 2023 and 2024 Patriot Offensive Player of the Year, will go up against 2024 PL Defensive Player of the Year Katie Schiano and three-time PL Midfielder of the Year Teresa Deda. Nine All-Patriot League players will be on the field on Thursday, six from Bucknell and three from Loyola.
Deda and Schiano were both First Team All-Patriot League selections. Goalkeeper Jess Benattar was a Second Team pick, and forward Katie Connell, midfielder Reese Evans, and defender Meghan White all made the Third Team.
Deda notched her third consecutive Patriot League Midfielder of the Year award, and this marks her fourth selection to the All-Patriot League First Team. She is only the second player in league history to win any of the major awards three times. Navy's Jade Seabrook was the Defensive Player of the Year in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Deda is the third Bison to be selected to any all-league team in all four years of her career, joining Krista Lee Gentile '08 and Katie McElligott '00. Deda is the first player in Bucknell history and the 10th player in Patriot League history to earn First Team honors four times.
Head coach Kelly Cook was named Patriot League Coach of the Year for the third time. She also won it in 2015 and 2016. The win over Lehigh last week was her 94th in 10 years at the helm of the Bison, which ties the program record.
Seniors Paige Temple and Kelley Francis scored the goals in the first half in last week's 2-0 win over Lehigh. Deda set up Temple's goal 15 minutes in, and then Francis outran two defenders to a long ball in the box and scored from a sharp angle to make it 2-0.
Deda has tied her career high with nine goals, and she leads the league with eight assists. DeSmit (16-5-37) and Deda (9-8-26) are the league's top two point-producers.
Deda's assist against Lehigh was the 37th of her career, extending her school record. Lisa Gibbons' mark of 35 had stood since 1994. Deda is the sixth player in team history to reach 80 career points (22G, 37A, 81P).
Deda ranks fourth among all active Division I players in career assists. The only players with more are Texas' Lexi Missimo (60) Pitt's Sarah Schupansky (43), and Auburn's Anna Haddock (42). Missimo and Haddock are both in their fifth years.
The Bison have scored 23 goals in 17 games thus far. Deda leads the way with nine goals and eight assists, and two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week Katie Connell has four goals. Evans scored her third of the season at Lafayette. Henna Andican, who is out with an injury, has two. Kelley Francis also has two after scoring against Lehigh, and Temple, Sydney Hess, and Presley Sutter have one apiece.
Bucknell has nine team shutouts this season, and Benattar has seven solo clean sheets. Benattar has played in 15 games this season – the first action of her career -- and she leads the Patriot League and ranks 10th nationally in GAA at 0.47. Her .860 save percentage (37 saves, 6 GA) is also the best in the league, and that figure ranks 16th nationally.
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 Schiano and White flanking Schmidt and Palitti.
The Bison have paid close mind to the league's top offensive players this season. Bucknell has faced nine league opponents who have scored five or more goals this season, and none have scored against the Bison. In fact, those nine players combined for only 10 shots. Four of the nine didn't get a single shot, including 14-goal-scorer Ari Bezanson of Colgate.
The Bison scored 13 goals and conceded only four in Patriot League play.
Bucknell has been shown only five yellow cards all season, with two of them coming at FDU on Sept. 15. The five yellows trail only Fairfield (4) and Northern Arizona (4) for the fewest in the nation.
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 94-63-26 (.585) and a Patriot League mark of 52-20-14 (.686). She has the highest winning percentage of any coach in program history, and she has equaled Ben Landis for the most total wins 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.

Loyola at a Glance

The Greyhounds earned the No. 4 seed with a 3-1 win over American on the final day of the regular season. That earned them a home game for the quarterfinal round, and they took full advantage with a 3-0 rout of No. 5 Colgate.
Led by the always dangerous Baylee DeSmit, Loyola has scored nine goals in its last four games since falling 1-0 at Bucknell on Oct. 16. Virginia Tech and Lafayette are the only other teams to blank the Greyhounds all season.
DeSmit, the two-time Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, has been involved in 21 of Loyola's 26 goals this season. Her 16 goals are the most in the Patriot League and fourth-most in the nation on a per-game basis. She also leads all Division I players in shots per game (6.22) and shots on goal per game (3.17). Her 37 total points are sixth-most in the nation.
Joining DeSmit on the All-Patriot League First Team as defender Zoe Willis, and midfielder Elizabeth Gallagher earned a Second Team nod.
Gallagher has two goals and a team-high six assists. Willis and Asma Merzougui also have two goals.
Loyola's 1.44 goals per game is tied for third-best in the PL, trailing only Army (1.67) and Navy (1.61).

The Bucknell-Loyola Series

Bucknell is 8-4-4 all-time against Loyola and 8-1-4 in the last 13 games, including a 1-0 verdict earlier this year at Emmitt Field.
Loyola won the first three games of the series in 1992, 1993, and 2007. Bucknell won six straight meetings from 2013-18 and is 8-1-3 since the Greyhounds joined the Patriot League.
Bucknell won 1-0 last season at the Ridley Athletic Complex, despite Loyola's 20-4 shot advantage. Paige Temple scored just over three minutes into the match, and Jenna Hall made eight saves on the way to her school-record 23rd career shutout. Three of those stops came in a frantic final minute, including a sensational diving save on Baylee DeSmit.
Back on Oct. 16, the Bison won 1-0 on a Teresa Deda goal in the 44th minute along with an outstanding defensive effort. The Bison outshot Loyola 18-4 and limited DeSmit to two shots, both from outside the box.

The Road Ahead

The two semifinal winners will meet at the home of the highest remaining seed on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. The match will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.

Women's Soccer Hosts Loyola in Patriot League Semifinal Thursday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Jess Benattar

Katie Connell

Teresa Deda

Reese Evans

Kelley Francis

Jenna Hall

Sydney Hess

Julia Palitti

Katie Schiano

Laura Schmidt

Presley Sutter

Paige Temple

Meghan White

Women's Soccer Hosts Loyola in Patriot League Semifinal Thursday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Jess Benattar

Katie Connell

Teresa Deda

Reese Evans

Kelley Francis

Jenna Hall

Sydney Hess

Julia Palitti

Katie Schiano

Laura Schmidt

Presley Sutter

Paige Temple

Meghan White

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