Women's Lax Set to Face Kent State for First Time

Bucknell (1-4) at Kent State (2-5)
When: Saturday, Mar. 9, 1 p.m.
Where: Dix Stadium, Kent, Ohio
Live Stats: KentStateSports.com
Streaming: KentStateSports.com
Follow on Twitter: @Bucknell_WLAX

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison look to bounce back from a frustrating loss to Mount St. Mary's when they travel to Mid-American Conference preseason favorite Kent State for their first-ever meeting with the Golden Flashes. It will be Bucknell's final non-conference tune-up, with Patriot League play starting next week.
Bucknell picked up its first win of the year with a 17-11 rout of Robert Morris on Feb. 24, but the Bison could not carry the momentum into last Sunday's game against Mount St. Mary's. The Mount scored three straight goals in the middle of the first period to take a 3-1 lead and led the rest of the way en route to a 14-8 win.
Bucknell's eight goals came from eight different players, with Taylor Kopan and Emily Baird both recording one goal and one assist. The Bison struggled on the draw circle for much of the game as the Mountaineers won 10 of the first 13. Bucknell will be looking to flip that statistic this week, as the opposition now has an 85-67 edge in draw controls on the season.
Last week's loss overshadowed an outstanding performance from goalie Colleen Kazanjian, who made a career-high 13 saves. She also had 10 stops in the win over Robert Morris and has upped her season save percentage to .413.
Boyce, who led the nation in shot accuracy last season, went 4-for-4 against Robert Morris but was held without a shot in the Mount St. Mary's game. Boyce has a team-high 12 goals on 17 shots through five games this season. Nesbitt (8-5-13), Baird (10-1-11), Kopan (6-3-9), and Megan Krestinski (7-1-8) are next on the Bucknell points list.
Boyce is nearing a milestone. She enters the Kent State game with 98 career goals, and she is close to becoming just the 10th 100-goal scorer in team history.

Bucknell Career Goals Leaders
1. Suzanne Raffaele     144     2000-03
2. Michelle Manion 140     1986-90
3. Bonnie Buechel 129     2006-09
4. Heidi Hammes 128     1996-99
5. Sue Gray 127     1981-84
Katelyn Miller    127     2011-14
7. Julia Braun 116     2008-11
8. Maddy Molinari 113     2014-17
9. Carol Donohue 107     2007-10
10. Ashley Evans 99     1998-01
    Allie Boyce 98     2022-pres.

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. Taylor McClain recorded 13 goals and a team-high 33 assists.
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.

Kent State at a Glance/Series History

This will be the very first meeting between Bucknell and Kent State, and it will be Bucknell's first foray into the state of Ohio since winning a wild 18-17 game at Ohio State in 2008.
The Golden Flashes are 2-5 this season, with the wins coming at Delaware State on Feb. 23 (19-12) and this past Thursday at home against Longwood (13-12). The game against Longwood was all square at 10-10 entering the fourth quarter, but Zayda Crumpton's sixth goal of the game just 12 seconds into the period gave them the lead for good.
Jackie Wolford (22-4-26) and Crumpton (15-8-23) have accounted for 37 of the team's 63 goals this season. Crumpton, a Second Team All-Mid-American Conference selection as a freshman last season, also leads the squad with 30 draw controls.
Wolford, the reigning MAC Offensive Player of the Year, scored 69 goals last season. This year, she has had five-goal games against Delaware State and Lindenwood, and she logged three goals and two assists against Longwood on Thursday.
Kent State has used three goalies thus far, with seniors Taylor Monturo and Ella Gravitt splitting the bulk of the time (each has played 197 minutes in the cage). They both have similar numbers, with Monturo making 35 saves with 48 goals against, and Gravitt stopping 33 shots with 49 goals allowed.
Kent State head coach Brianne Tierney knows the Patriot League very well. She played college lacrosse at both Loyola and Colgate and spent time as an assistant coach at Lafayette. Tierney was the head coach at Lebanon Valley from 2010-12 and then was succeeded at LVC by Jackie Dando. Tierney's father is longtime Denver and Princeton men's coach Bill Tierney.
Tierney was the first-ever head coach at Kent State, which played its inaugural season in 2019. The Golden Flashes were members of the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2019 and 2020 before moving into the MAC. The team recorded its first winning season in 2023, finishing 10-8 overall and 7-1 in the MAC. Tierney earned Coach of the Year honors after leading her team to a share of its first MAC regular-season title.

Next Up

It will be nothing but Patriot League play the rest of the way, as Bucknell hosts Boston University in the conference opener next Saturday at 12 p.m.

Women's Lax Set to Face Kent State for First Time

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Players Mentioned

Emily Baird

Allie Boyce

Colleen Kazanjian

Taylor Kopan

Megan Krestinski

Taylor McClain

Ella Payer

Women's Lax Set to Face Kent State for First Time

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Emily Baird

Allie Boyce

Colleen Kazanjian

Taylor Kopan

Megan Krestinski

Taylor McClain

Ella Payer

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