Women's Lacrosse Returns Home to Face Colgate Saturday

Saturday, April 6

Lewisburg, Pa.

1 p.m.

Bucknell University

Colgate

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Women's Lacrosse Returns Home to Face Colgate Saturday

4/3/2024 3:46:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Colgate (1-10, 1-3 PL) at Bucknell (3-7, 1-3 PL)
When: Saturday, Apr. 6, 1 p.m.
Where: Graham Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Follow on Twitter: @Bucknell_WLAX

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison just endured a brutal stretch of their schedule, dropping three road games in a span of seven days to the teams ranked in the top half of the Patriot League standings in 4-0 Holy Cross, 2-2 Lehigh, and 3-1 Navy. Bucknell is now 1-3 after opening conference play with a 16-13 home win over Boston University, and now the Bison get three of their next four games at home, where they are 2-1 on the season.
Despite the 1-3 start, Bucknell is tied with Colgate and Lafayette for the sixth and final Patriot League Tournament spot. American is a half-game back at 1-4. Bucknell's next three opponents are Colgate, American, and Lafayette, so this will be an important stretch in the team's postseason hopes.
Bucknell's most recent outing was a 21-6 loss to No. 17 Navy in Annapolis last Saturday. Katie Browne paced the Bison with two goals and an assist, but the Bison could not overcome Navy's eight-goal first quarter. The hot-shooting Mids scored 21 goals on 36 shots, with Emily Messinese leading the way with four goals and three assists.
Bucknell's win over Boston University snapped a nine-game series losing streak to the Terriers. That game on March 16 was the last time the Bison played at home.
Allie Boyce (21-5-26) continues to lead the team in goals and points, and her 107 career goals are tied with Carol Donohue for ninth-most in team history. Next on the list is Maddy Molinari with 113.
After leading the nation in shot percentage last season, Boyce is currently No. 7 nationally this season at .656. Boyce is also hitting a .727 clip on free-position attempts, which leads the Patriot League and ranks 12th nationally.
Freshman Abby Henderson (6-2-8) and sophomore Regan Sansiviero (2-6-8) have seen their playing time increase on the attack unit of late, and both made their first collegiate starts against Lehigh last week.
Taylor Kopan (12-3-15) had scored a goal in every game this season until being kept off the sheet at Navy last time out. Megan Krestinski (12-5-17), who has missed the last two games, and Emily Baird (10-4-14) also have double-digit goals.
McClain (6-11-17) leads the team in assists, and with 56 career assists she is now tied with Meredith Wright for fourth-most in Bucknell history. She needs 16 more to catch Melissa Montefusco for third.
Freshman Braeden Siverson (10-1-11) has been Bucknell's primary draw specialist this season, and she leads the team with 44 draw controls. Aliza Thir (1-1-2) has 25, and Tatumn Kohlbrenner (7-3-10) has 18. Kohlbrenner, a do-it-all middie, leads Bucknell's field players with 13 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers.
Colleen Kazanjian has started eight of the 10 games in goal and has a .344 save percentage and 14.98 goals-against average.
As a team, Bucknell ranks sixth in the Patriot League in scoring with 11.30 goals per game. Colgate is ninth at 9.00.
Bucknell's 12.70 turnovers per game are third-fewest in the league and 17th-fewest in the nation.
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, not to mention an upstart Holy Cross team that is 9-2 overall and 4-0 in the league.
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.

Colgate at a Glance/Series History

Kathy Taylor's squad comes in with a 1-10 overall record and a 1-3 mark in the Patriot League. Colgate's lone win was a 13-7 verdict at American on March 23, led by Lauren Thompson's four-goal game.
Since that win, Colgate has fallen 15-13 to Cornell and 20-6 at No. 7 Loyola.
Colgate has four players who have collected 20 or more points thus far: Kyra Lucey (12-14-26), Caroline Panzirer (8-15-23), Lucy Licata (18-2-20), and Kait Henning (17-3-20). Lucey ranks 10th in the Patriot League in assists per game.
Licata, the leading goal-scorer, had hat tricks against Navy and Holy Cross and is riding a streak of four straight multi-goal games. She hit the net twice against Loyola on Saturday. Licata also leads the team with 41 draw controls.
Defensively, Nelle Kniffin leads the Raiders with 11 caused turnovers, and Meg Cole has 10 ground balls.
Freshman Lauren Solis has started every game in goal, and she ranks third in the Patriot League in saves per game (9.82). Solis has a .393 save percentage and 15.62 GAA. She made a season-high 17 saves in her collegiate debut against Temple, and she has double-digit save totals in six of her 11 starts.
Bucknell is just 6-37 all-time against Colgate, but three of those wins have come in the last six meetings, all at Graham Field. Each of the last eight games has been decided by three goals or fewer.
Bucknell won back-to-back games against Colgate for the first time ever in 2021 (13-11) and 2022 (15-14), but the Raiders returned the favor with a 16-13 win in Hamilton last season.
In last year's game at Colgate, the Bison led 9-6 with nine minutes left in the first half, but Colgate went on an 8-0 run over the next 21 minutes and won the game 16-13. Panzirer, then a freshman, scored eight goals to lead the Raiders. Megan Krestinski and Allie Boyce tallied four goals each for the Bison.
In the last meeting at Graham Field in 2022, Caroline Miller scored a shorthanded goal with 39 seconds remaining to give Bucknell a dramatic 15-14 win. Allie Boyce equaled the Bucknell freshman record with seven goals in that game, and she has 11 in two career games against Colgate.
Bucknell and Colgate have met twice in the postseason. The Bison won 13-9 in the 2003 Patriot League Tournament semifinals in Washington, D.C., which is the team's only postseason win and gave them their only berth in a league championship game. Bucknell then fell to American in the final. Colgate defeated Bucknell 15-11 in the 2009 semis in Hamilton, and the Raiders went on to rout Navy 17-4 in the final.