Wednesday, September 25
Germantown, Md. (Maryland SoccerPlex)
4 p.m.
Bucknell University
at
American
Photo by: Lianne Garrahan
Women's Soccer Set for Big Week with Trip to American, Home Game with Army
9/24/2024 3:59:00 PM | Women's Soccer
Bucknell (5-2-2, 1-0 PL) at American (4-2-1, 0-1 PL)
When: Wednesday, Sept. 25, 4 p.m.
Where: Maryland SoccerPlex, Boyds, Md.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: AUEagles.com
Army West Point (7-2, 1-0 PL) at Bucknell (5-2-2, 1-0 PL)
When: Saturday, Sept. 28, 1 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Happenings: Youth Soccer Day (autographed team poster for all kids who come to the game in their youth soccer jersey)
Bucknell at a Glance
When: Wednesday, Sept. 25, 4 p.m.
Where: Maryland SoccerPlex, Boyds, Md.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: AUEagles.com
Army West Point (7-2, 1-0 PL) at Bucknell (5-2-2, 1-0 PL)
When: Saturday, Sept. 28, 1 p.m.
Where: Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Happenings: Youth Soccer Day (autographed team poster for all kids who come to the game in their youth soccer jersey)
Bucknell at a Glance
- After opening Patriot League play with a 3-0 home win over Colgate on Saturday, the Bison have a challenging week ahead with two fixtures against conference rivals who start the week with a combined 11-4-1 overall record.
- The Bison will be on the road on Wednesday, taking on an American side that had won four straight games, including road wins over Maryland and Richmond, before falling 4-1 at Army on Friday. American's home field is under construction this fall, so Wednesday's game will be played at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Boyds, Md.
- On Saturday, the Bison host Army West Point in a rematch of the last two Patriot League Tournament finals, which were both won by Bucknell in penalty-kick shootouts.
- After conceding eight goals in back-to-back losses to No. 7 Pittsburgh (5-1) and Monmouth (3-0), the Bison have posted four straight shutouts. They are 3-0-1 in that stretch, with wins over Saint Joseph's (2-0), Villanova (1-0), and Colgate (3-0) along with a 0-0 draw with FDU.
- Bucknell brings a scoreless streak of 394:23 into Wednesday's game at American. The school record for consecutive shutouts is six, set in 2015 and 2017.
- Goalkeeper Jess Benattar played all but 45 minutes in that stretch, and she is riding a streak of three straight solo shutouts. Benattar leads the Patriot League in goals-against average (0.50) and save percentage (.842). In her eight appearances this season she has 16 saves while conceding only three goals.
- In front of Benattar, the Bison have started the same back four in every game this season. Veteran standouts Katie Schiano, the Preseason PL Defensive Player of the Year, and Meghan White have been terrific on the flanks, and center backs Laura Schmidt and Julia Palitti have both been outstanding in their first season as starters.
- Standout center midfielder Teresa Deda picked up another honor this week when she was named the Patriot League Midfielder of the Week. Deda, the two-time PL Midfielder of the Year, scored two big second-half goals to ice the win over Colgate on Saturday.
- Deda now has six goals and three assists for 15 points this season. She has a point in six of the team's nine games and ranks second in the Patriot League in both goals and points.
- Deda became the eighth player in Bucknell history to record 70 career points (19G, 32A). Her 32 assists are three shy of Lisa Gibbons' school record that has been in the books since 1994.
- 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 (56) and Trinity Byars (36), Pitt's Sarah Schupansky (40), and Auburn's Anna Haddock (38). Missimo and Haddock are both in their fifth years.
- The Bison have now scored 13 goals in nine games thus far. Deda leads the way with six goals and three assists, and two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week Katie Connell has three goals. Henna Andican, who is out with an injury, has two goals, and Reese Evans and Presley Sutter have one each. Sutter, a freshman, scored her first career goal to open the scoring late in the first half against Colgate.
- 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 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 88-60-26 (.580) and a Patriot League mark of 46-18-14 (.679). She has the highest winning percentage of any coach in program history, and she needs six 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.
- The Eagles were rolling after consecutive wins over Maryland (2-0), Binghamton (2-0), UMBC (3-1), and Richmond (2-1), but they saw their streak come to a halt with a 4-1 loss at Army on Friday in the Patriot League opener.
- The Eagles are the league's third-highest scoring team with 1.6 goals per game, and they have only been shut out once all season (Aug. 18 1-0 at VMI).
- Sophomore forward Lailah Stewart is one of the league's top point-producers with 12 on four goals and four assists. She recorded an assist in all four games in American's recent four-game winning streak, and she added two goals in the win over UMBC.
- Izzy Kadzban has two goals, and five others have one each.
- Freshman goalkeeper Addison Roemer has played every minute thus far and has 15 saves with eight goals against.
- American finished 3-9-4 overall and 3-5-1 in the Patriot League last season. The Eagles finished in seventh place, one spot outside the postseason.
- Bucknell is 15-8-2 all-time against American, including an active 10-game unbeaten streak (9-0-1).
- The Bison have outscored the Eagles 22-3 during the current unbeaten string, including shutouts in the last four. The last American player to score against Bucknell was Morgan Brinson in the 12th minute of a 1-1 draw at Emmitt Field in 2019.
- American's last win over the Bison was a 3-0 verdict in D.C. in 2013, and the Eagles' last win in Lewisburg was a 1-0 decision in 2012.
- Bucknell was a 1-0 winner last season in Lewisburg. Henna Andican scored off Teresa Deda's corner kick in the 26th minute. Jenna Hall made four saves, and the Bison defense kept a clean sheet.
- In addition to Andican, Paige Temple is the only other active Bison to score a goal against American. Temple opened the scoring in Bucknell's 3-0 home win in 2021.
- The Black Knights have lived up to the billing as the preseason favorite in the Patriot League, running out to a 7-2 start with the only losses coming against Wake Forest (1-0) and Minnesota (3-0). Army was a 4-1 winner over American in its Patriot League opener and will host Holy Cross on Wednesday before traveling to Lewisburg.
- Army averages 2.2 goals per game and has five players with multiple goals on the season. Kaelan Bradley and Brigid Duffy have four goals apiece, followed by Bella Conti with three and Bella Cooke and Cami Silvestro with two each. Duffy's four goals have come in only five games, as she missed the team's first four games while playing for the U.S. National U20 women's lacrosse team at the World Championships.
- Bradley, a two-time All-Patriot League selection, is coming off a brace against American, and she had a goal and an assist in a wild 4-3 win at Air Force one week earlier.
- Patriot League Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year Sage Strohman has started all nine games in goal and has 55 saves with 12 goals against.
- Army was 10-6-4 overall and 6-2-1 in the Patriot League last season. The Black Knights took the regular-season title by one point over Bucknell.
- This has been a tight series through the years, with Army holding a narrow 20-17-5 lead dating back to 1991.
- Army won the first six and nine of the first 11 meetings between the teams. Since 1998, the Bison are 15-11-5 against the Black Knights.
- Bucknell downed Army in penalty kicks in each of the last two Patriot League Tournament finals. Those games officially go in the books as draws, however, so the Bison are technically winless in their last six (0-3-3) against the Black Knights.
- In 2022 Patriot League Tournament final at West Point, Tournament MVP Rylee Donaldson converted a walk-off penalty kick for the second time in three days, sending the Bison to a championship repeat. Jenna Hall made a crucial save in the shootout, and Teresa Deda, Meghan White, and Donaldson all scored as Bucknell prevailed 3-1 in PKs.
- In last year's PL championship match, Hall turned in the performance of her career with 13 saves in regulation and overtime and then three more in the shootout to help the Bison to a third straight title. Kalli Wethern broke a 3-3 deadlock in PKs, and then Hall made anothre leaping save to end it.
- Last year's regular-season matchup was played in a steady rain at West Point. Henna Andican scored midway through the first half to give Bucknell a 1-0 halftime lead, but Army stormed back with three second-half goals and won 3-1. Brigid Duffy, Madison Niebish, and Jasmine Talley scored for the Black Knights, the latter coming after Bucknell had gone down to 10 players.
- Bucknell's last official win over Army was a 3-1 verdict at West Point in 2018. All three goals came on corner kicks, including two from center back Holly Burns and one on an own goal.
- Bucknell's last home win against the Black Knights was a 3-0 blanking in 2017. Kendall Ham scored twice and Bri Kropinack had a goal and an assist, all in the first 22 minutes of the match.
- After Saturday's game against Army, the Bison will have a full week off before hosting Holy Cross on Senior Day at Emmitt Field on Saturday, Oct. 5. Bucknell will honor its nine seniors prior to the match.
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