Women's Soccer Set for First Road Trip of Season

Thursday, August 29

Washington, D.C

3 p.m.

Bucknell University

George Washington

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Women's Soccer Set for First Road Trip of Season

8/27/2024 4:08:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Bucknell (2-1-1) at George Washington (1-2-1)
When: Thursday, Aug. 29, 3 p.m.
Where: GW Soccer Field, Washington, D.C.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: GWSports.com

Bucknell (2-1-1) at Monmouth (2-0-1)
When: Sunday, Sept. 1, 3 p.m.
Where: Hesse Field on the Great Lawn, West Long Branch, N.J.
Streaming: FloSports
Live Stats: MonmouthHawks.com

Bucknell at a Glance

After starting the 2024 season with four straight home games, the Bison will now play their next five on the road. The away swing starts this week with a pair of tough tests against George Washington and Monmouth.
Bucknell saw its 18-match home winning streak come to an end on Sunday, when No. 7 Pittsburgh scored the final five goals in a 5-1 win at Emmitt Field. Teresa Deda scored early in the second half after a sensational lead pass from Kelley Francis, but the Panthers quickly responded with a five-goal flurry in a span of less than 30 minutes.
Earlier in the week, Bucknell dominated UMBC in a 3-0 win. Henna Andican, Deda, and Katie Connell scored the goals, and the Bison racked up a 26-8 shot advantage.
The Bison have scored seven goals this season, all coming from three players. Deda has three, and Andican and Connell have two each.
Deda, the two-time Patriot League Midfielder of the Year, also has two assists, and her eight points are three more than any other player in the Patriot League. She now has 31 career assists, which are four shy of Lisa Gibbons' school record.
Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year Katie Schiano is tied for the league lead with three assists.
Deda was the Patriot League Preseason Midfielder of the Year, and she was also one of 44 players named to the 2024 Hermann Trophy Watch List. The Hermann Trophy is given to the national player of the year.
Bucknell has yet to concede a first-half goal this season, but the Bison have allowed seven in the second half. Conversely, Bucknell has twice scored in the opening three minutes of a match, with Henna Andican collecting both against La Salle and UMBC.
The freshman Connell scored in back-to-back games against Delaware and UMBC, the latter a banger under the crossbar from about 28 yards out. Connell has started the last two games and earned Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors on Aug. 19.
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.
Deda is a three-time First Team All-Patriot League selection, and she captured the PL Midfielder of the Year award in each of the last two campaigns. Schiano (Second Team), Andican (Second Team), and Paige Temple (Third Team) are also returning All-Patriot League honorees.
Bucknell has seven of its 11 starters back in 2024. The biggest graduation hits came in the back of the formation, where two-time Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year Jenna Hall and center backs Brooke Tracey (First Team All-PL and PL Scholar-Athlete of the Year) and Eva Frankovic have graduated. The Bison also lost a strong two-way player in winger Hannah Stuck.
Hall (South Carolina), Tracey (Maryland), and Stuck (West Virginia) are all using their fifth years of eligibility playing for major-conference programs as graduate students.
Schiano, senior midfielder Kelley Francis, and senior defender Olivia DeConinck are this year's team captains.
Bucknell scored 34 goals in 21 games last season, and 30 of those goals are back this season. Deda (9-9-27), Andican (6-9-21), and Temple (4-4-12) all ranked among the league's top scorers, with Deda and Andican sharing the Patriot League assist title.
Other returning goal scorers include Francis (3), Reese Evans (3), Meghan White (2), Schiano (1), and Riley Hayes (1).
Deda ranks fourth among all active Division I players in career assists. The only players with more are Texas' Lexi Missimo (53) and Trinity Byars (36), and Auburn's Anna Haddock (35). Missimo and Haddock are both in their fifth years.
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 85-59-25 (.577) and a Patriot League mark of 45-18-14 (.675). She has the highest winning percentage of any coach in program history, and she needs nine more wins to equal Ben Landis for the most 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.

George Washington at a Glance

The Revolutionaries defeated defending CAA champion Towson 3-0 on Sunday for their first win of the season. George Washington drew American 1-1 in the season opener, then lost twice to Binghamton (3-2) and Loyola (1-0).
Alicia Window, Isabel Kelly, and Kelly Poole scored the goals in the win at Towson. Those were GW's only three shots on target in the game. The first two goals came 54 seconds apart midway through the first half.
Lauren Prentice, Rose Vigran, and Selah Koleth also have goals this season.
Ainsley Lumpe has started all four games in goal and has eight saves and five goals against. Freshman Kate Silverstein entered in the third minute against Towson and went the rest of the way, making two saves en route to her first win.
George Washington has a new head coach this season in Jeremy Williams. Williams was an assistant at GW from 2015-17 and was part of the team's Atlantic 10 regular-season title in 2015. He had been an assistant at Miami for the last six years.

The Bucknell-GW Series

Bucknell and George Washington have met just twice previously, and both teams have a win on their home fields. GW prevailed 2-1 in D.C. in 2019, and the Bison won 3-1 at Emmitt Field last season.
Henna Andican, Reese Evans, and Teresa Deda all scored in Bucknell's home win a year ago. Caitlin Cunningham scored a consolation goal with 4:57 remaining to make the final 3-1. Bucknell controlled the match, outshooting the Revolutionaries 22-6. Grace Crowe made 10 saves in goal for GW.
In the 2019 contest, Gabby Bair scored an equalizing goal for the Bison in the 29th minute, but Maria Pareja put GW right back ahead less than five minutes later, and that 2-1 scoreline ended up as the final. GW outshot Bucknell 20-5 that day and went on to finish the season 14-3-4 with a trip to the A-10 championship match.

Monmouth at a Glance

The Hawks are off to a terrific start with shutout road wins over Temple (1-0) and UAlbany (6-0) along with a 1-1 home draw with No. 21 Virginia Tech. Monmouth, the preseason favorite in the Coastal Athletic Association, travels to Binghamton on Thursday before hosting Bucknell on Sunday.
Ashley Lavrich scored in the eighth minute to give Monmouth the early lead on Virginia Tech, but Kendall DiMillio equalized just 18 seconds into the second half for the Hokies.
Monmouth completely dominated UAlbany, outshooting the Great Danes 29-0 while scoring six times. Summer Reimet and Loren Gehret both bagged braces, and Emily De Almeida and Julianna Caccamo added goals.
In their season opener, the Hawks outshot Temple 24-6 and won the game on Reimet's goal in the 7th minute. The scoreline might have been wider if not for 14 saves from Owls goalkeeper Tamsin Bynoe.
Cassie Coster has played every minute in goal thus far and has nine saves with only one goal allowed.
Monmouth went 11-6-2 overall and 8-2-2 in the CAA last season. The Hawks made it to the CAA Tournament final, where they fell 2-1 to top-seeded Towson.
Defender Lauren Bruno was selected as the CAA Preseason Player of the Year. Bruno, who is playing as a graduate student in 2024, was also the 2023 CAA Defensive Player of the year and an all-region selection.

The Bucknell-Monmouth Series

The Bison and Hawks have met four times previously, with each side winning twice. Bucknell captured the first two meetings, 2-0 in 2014 and 3-1 in 2016. Monmouth then won 1-0 in 2018 and 3-2 in 2021.
The 2014 game was notable, because twin sisters Kendall and Jackie Ham scored Bucknell's goals in just their second collegiate game. Kendall, who would go on to become one of the most prolific scorers in program history, struck in the 41st minute, and then she assisted on Jackie's insurance goal in the 83rd.
The 2016 meeting is the only one of the four to be played in Lewisburg. After spotting Monmouth an early goal, Bucknell scored their straight to post the opening-night win. Karli Cirovski and Maddie Dano scored for the Bison, with the final tally coming on an own goal.
In the most recent meeting in New Jersey in 2021, the Hawks scored the first two goals in a 3-2 win. Claire Mensi scored on a penalty kick in the 62nd minute to make it 2-1, but Monmouth was awarded a PK five minutes later and Brianna Russo converted. Kelley Francis scored her first career goal in the last minute to make it a 3-2 final.

The Road Ahead