Women's Lacrosse Visits Holy Cross Saturday Looking for 2-0 Patriot League Start

Saturday, March 23

Worcester, Mass.

1 p.m.

Bucknell University

Holy Cross

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Women's Lacrosse Visits Holy Cross Saturday Looking for 2-0 Patriot League Start

3/20/2024 2:24:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Bucknell (3-4, 1-0 PL) at Holy Cross (6-2, 2-0 PL)
When: Saturday, Mar. 23, 1 p.m.
Where: Kuzniewski Field, Worcester, Mass.
Live Stats: GoHolyCross.com
Streaming: ESPN+
Follow on Twitter: @Bucknell_WLAX

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison women's lacrosse team looks to build on last week's stirring comeback win over Boston University in its Patriot League opener when it travels to Holy Cross to face a red-hot Crusaders squad. Holy Cross brings a five-game winning streak into Wednesday's non-league interlude at Stonehill, and that streak includes a pair of Patriot League road wins over Colgate (15-13) and Lafayette (12-11).
Bucknell's 16-13 win over Boston University snapped a nine-game series losing streak to the Terriers. The Bison had been 0-9 since Boston University joined the Patriot League in 2014, with their lone series win coming in 1996.
Bucknell trailed 5-1 early and 10-6 at the half before outscoring the Terriers 10-3 in the second half. Down 12-10 with six minutes left in the third quarter, the Bison tallied six of the game's final seven goals.
Goalie Colleen Kazanjian made five big saves in the fourth quarter to backstop a terrific defensive effort. Trailing 13-12 inside nine minutes to play, Megan Krestinski scored the tying goal, Taylor Kopan put the Bison ahead with 5:45 left, and Taylor McClain and Tatumn Kohlbrenner netted big insurance goals.
McClain finished with three goals and three assists for a season-high six points, and on Monday she was selected as the Patriot League Attacker of the Week for the first time in her career. McClain helped ignite Bucknell's second-half charge with a goal and two assists in a four-goal run that tied the game at 10-10.
Allie Boyce recorded three goals and an assist, and Katie Browne also had a hat trick. Freshman Abby Henderson chipped in two goals and an assist, and 12 of Bucknell's 16 goals were assisted.
Freshman Braeden Siverson had another big day on the draw circle. She collected a game-high seven draw controls and also scored a goal.
Boyce (18-3-21) leads the team in goals and points. After leading the nation in shot percentage last season, she is currently second in Division I at .692 this season. Only Virginia's Mackenzie Hoeg (.697) has been more accurate thus far. Boyce is also hitting a .700 clip on free-position attempts, which leads the Patriot League and ranks 18th nationally.
Boyce scored her 100th career goal two games ago in a win at Kent State, and she currently ranks 10th in team history with 104 career goals.
Emily Baird (10-4-14), Krestinski (10-4-14), Alex Nesbitt (8-5-13), McClain (4-9-13), and Kopan (8-3-11) have all tallied at least 10 points through seven games.
Siverson leads the squad with 33 draw controls, followed by Eliza Thir with 19 and Kohlbrenner with 16. Bucknell has won 46.9% of its draws on the season.
As a team, Bucknell leads the Patriot League in caused turnovers per game with 8.71, and the Bison are also second in the league in fewest turnovers per game with 12.86. Bucknell has turned the ball over only eight times in each of its last two games against Kent State and Boston University, and the Bison went 36-for-36 on clears in those two wins.
Bucknell is looking to improve on last year's 6-10 record. The Bison were picked ninth in the Patriot League preseason poll. The league is loaded with talent this year, with three teams ranked in the IWLCA national poll at times this season.
The Bison returned 195 of their 209 goals (93.3%) from last season. The 209 goals were the team's most since 2016. Boyce led the way with 50, while Kopan, Baird, and Krestinski all tallied 22.
Bucknell's biggest graduation loss was First Team All-Patriot League defender Ella Payer, who departed as the program's all-time leader in draw controls.
Head coach Jackie Dando is in her fifth season as Bucknell's head coach. Lisa Oakley is back for her second season working with the defenders and draw specialists, while Jordan Baerga is in her first year working with the attack unit.

Holy Cross at a Glance/Series History

The Crusaders are 6-2 entering Wednesday's game at Stonehill. After opening the season with a 17-16 win over Fairfield, they dropped their next two to Bryant (13-10) and Stanford (19-7). An 18-7 win at New Hampshire ignited their current five-game winning streak, which also includes wins over UMass (12-10), Iona (19-6), Colgate (15-13), and Lafayette (12-11).
Holy Cross is averaging 13.8 goals per game, with most of the offensive production coming from Isabela Miller (17-22-39), Lauren Drillock (19-19-38), Sally Zinsner (26-11-37), and Ella Kittredge (17-3-20). Miller is coming off three straight four-assist games and is now 12th nationally in assists per game, and Drillock scored five goals against UMass and had two goals and six assists against Iona.
Zinsner and Bucknell's Allie Boyce were classmates at Georgetown Visitation Prep and are two of the Patriot League's top scorers.
Holy Cross starts a senior goalie in Tori Cini, who made a season-high 17 saves in the win over UMass. She has a .452 save percentage on the season. Mackenzie Creagh has seen action in three games off the bench, including relief stints in both Patriot League wins over Colgate and Lafayette.
Bucknell and Holy Cross have met 32 times dating back to the Patriot League's inception in 1991, and the series is all knotted up at 16 wins apiece.
The Crusaders have won the last four meetings, including a wild 22-21 game to close out the 2023 season. That was the highest-scoring game in Bucknell history. It featured a combined 43 goals on 79 shots, and eight different players recorded hat tricks. Alex Nesbitt led Bucknell with five goals, Megan Krestinski had three goals and three assists, and Allie Boyce reached the 50-goal mark for the season with four tallies.
Zinsner led Holy Cross with four goals and an assist, while Henna Brennan logged three goals and three assists and had a hand in both the tying and go-ahead goals 12 seconds apart late in the contest. Cini made nine saves, including a game-saver on Boyce with 10 seconds to go.
Bucknell's last series win was an 11-8 verdict in Worcester in 2017. Audrey Walsh led the Bison with three goals, and Jamison DeWitt made seven second-half saves to preserve the win. Bucknell trailed 6-4 early in the second half before scoring six straight goals.