Women's Soccer Wraps up Non-League Play with Road Matches at Villanova, FDU

Bucknell (3-2-1) at Villanova (3-3)
When: Thursday, Sept. 12, 4 p.m.
Where: Higgins Soccer Complex, Villanova, Pa.
Streaming: FloSports
Live Stats: Villanova.com

Bucknell (3-2-1) at Fairleigh Dickinson (0-2-4)
When: Sunday, Sept. 15, 12 p.m.
Where: University Stadium, Teaneck, N.J.
Streaming: NEC Front Row
Live Stats: FDUKnights.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell's long road swing continues with two more trips this week, first to Villanova on Thursday followed by a game at FDU on Sunday. This was slated to be a five-game away stretch, but the first game at George Washington on Aug. 29 was canceled late in the first half due to thunderstorms.
The Bison will be on a full week of rest when they travel to Villanova. Their last outing was one of their best of the season, a dominant 2-0 road win over Saint Joseph's last Thursday. The Hawks came in with a 4-1 record, but Bucknell outshot them 21-4 and received goals from Reese Evans in the 10th minute and Katie Connell in the 54th.
Connell earned her second Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor on Monday. She now has three goals in her first six collegiate games, with the other two coming against Delaware and UMBC.
Evans headed home a Teresa Deda cross to open the scoring early at Saint Joe's. Evans also set up the second goal with a beautiful through ball to spring Connell on a breakaway. She was not officially credited with an assist because Connell's initial shot was saved and she scored on the rebound.
Bucknell's midfield and back four were sensational against Saint Joe's, winning ball after ball and yielding only two shots on target all evening.
Deda and Collins share the team lead with three goals. Deda actually scored a fourth at George Washington, but it was taken off the board when the game was abandoned late in the first half due to weather.
Deda also has a team-high three assists, giving her nine points on the season. That is the third-highest total in the Patriot League, trailing only Loyola's Baylee DeSmit (11) and American's Lailah Stewart (10).
Deda and Katie Schiano are tied for third in the league in assists with three.
Deda now has 32 career assists, which are three shy of Lisa Gibbons' school record that has been in the books since 1994.
Bucknell saw its 18-match home winning streak come to an end when No. 7 Pittsburgh scored the final five goals in a 5-1 win at Emmitt Field. 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.
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. Schiano was picked as the Patriot League Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.
Deda ranks fifth among all active Division I players in career assists. The only players with more are Texas' Lexi Missimo (54) and Trinity Byars (36), Pitt's Sarah Schupansky (40), and Auburn's Anna Haddock (37). Missimo and Haddock are both in their fifth years.
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 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 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 86-60-25 (.576) 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 eight 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.

Villanova at a Glance

Like Bucknell, the Wildcats have been idle since last Thursday, when they fell 1-0 at home to Wake Forest on a goal in the 84th minute.
Villanova started the year with a loss to James Madison, then won three straight over Temple, Penn, and Jacksonville. The Wildcats have dropped their last two to fall to 3-3, albeit against strong ACC competition in No. 1 Florida State and Wake.
Freshmen have accounted for five of Villanova's six goals this season. Madison Shumate has scored three, with two coming against Temple and the other in the second half of a 1-0 win over Jacksonville. Morgan Kotch also had a brace in the 4-0 win over Temple. Senior Susanna Soderman also has a goal, which came just 18 seconds into the second half in the 1-0 win over Penn.
USC transfer Hannah Dickinson has started all six games in goal and has 29 saves with only six goals against. She is coming off back-to-back 10-save performances against Florida State and Wake Forest, when she faced a barrage of 57 total shots in the two contests.
The Wildcats finished 4-7-7 overall and 1-7-2 in the Big East last season.

The Bucknell-Villanova Series

Bucknell is 0-4-2 all-time against Villanova and has been outscored 18-4 in those six meetings. The first three clashes came from 1991-93 when the Bison program was still in its infancy.
These two teams met for the first time in 19 years last season in Lewisburg, and the match finished in a 1-1 draw. Both goals came within a 10-minute span early in the second half. Makayla Stadler scored off an assist from former Bison Rylee Donaldson just 52 seconds into the second half, but Henna Andican equalized 10 minutes later on a corner kick scrum.
This will be Bucknell's first trip to Villanova since 2004, when the Wildcats prevailed 3-0. Each of the first five series meetings were played at Villanova before the Wildcats made their first trip to Lewisburg last season.

Fairleigh Dickinson at a Glance

The Knights are still looking for their first win of 2024, but they have earned a point in four of their first six matches. FDU has earned draws in each of its last three games heading into a Thursday-night road trip to Hofstra.
FDU opened season with a scoreless draw against Seton Hall, and then after back-to-back 3-2 losses to Stony Brook and Navy, the Knights have tied Providence (1-1), Vermont (1-1), and Columbia (0-0).
Sunday's game will be FDU's second home game of the season and the first since the opener against Seton Hall on Aug. 18.
Elena Cvetkovic, a freshman from Serbia, has a team-high two goals, coming in back-to-back games against Navy and Providence. Ana Salas, Marina Burzaco, and Dominique Liberto have also registered goals.
Freshman Rosemarie Leblanc has played every minute in goal and has 24 saves with eight goals against.
FDU went 8-11 overall and 8-2 in the Northeast Conference last season. The Knights were upset by Wagner 3-0 in the first round of the NEC Tournament.

The Bucknell-FDU Series

This will be the first-ever meeting between the Bison and Knights.

The Road Ahead

Following this week's games, the Bison return home to start Patriot League play on Saturday, Sept. 21 against Colgate at 1 p.m.

Women's Soccer Wraps up Non-League Play with Road Matches at Villanova, FDU

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Katie Connell

Olivia DeConinck

Teresa Deda

Reese Evans

Kelley Francis

Eva Frankovic

Jenna Hall

Katie Schiano

Hannah Stuck

Brooke Tracey

Women's Soccer Wraps up Non-League Play with Road Matches at Villanova, FDU

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Henna Andican

Katie Connell

Olivia DeConinck

Teresa Deda

Reese Evans

Kelley Francis

Eva Frankovic

Jenna Hall

Katie Schiano

Hannah Stuck

Brooke Tracey

Related Videos