Women's Soccer Visits Saint Joe's Thursday Night

Thursday, September 5

Philadelphia, Pa.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

Saint Joseph's

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Women's Soccer Visits Saint Joe's Thursday Night

9/3/2024 4:49:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Bucknell (2-2-1) at Saint Joseph's (4-1)
When: Thursday, Sept. 5, 7 p.m.
Where: Sweeney Field, Philadelphia, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: SJUHawks.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell's challenging non-conference slate continues on Thursday with a date with 4-1 Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia. After starting the season 2-0-1, the Bison have dropped back-to-back games against No. 7 Pittsburgh and unbeaten Monmouth, which is one of the favorites in the Coastal Athletic Association.
The Bison had a mid-week game at George Washington abandoned due to thunderstorms late in the first half last Thursday, and then on Sunday they were kept off the scoreboard for the first time all season in a 3-0 loss at Monmouth.
Senior midfielder Teresa Deda, the 2022 and 2023 Patriot League Midfielder of the Year, leads the team and ranks second in the Patriot League with eight points on three goals and two assists. Deda actually scored a fourth goal at George Washington, but it was taken off the board when the game was washed out.
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.
The Bison have scored seven goals this season, all coming from three players. Deda has three, and Henna Andican and Katie Connell have two each.
Deda 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 second in the league 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.
Deda ranks fifth among all active Division I players in career assists. The only players with more are Texas' Lexi Missimo (53) and Trinity Byars (36), Auburn's Anna Haddock (35), and Pitt's Sarah Schupansky. Missimo and Haddock are both in their fifth years.
Bucknell had yet to concede a first-half goal all season until Monmouth put two on the board in the opening 45 minutes on Sunday. Conversely, Bucknell has twice scored in the opening three minutes of a match, with 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.
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 85-60-25 (.574) 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.

Saint Joseph's at a Glance

The Hawks started the 2024 season with four straight wins with an 8-1 goal differential before suffering their first loss at St. John's (1-0) on Sunday.
Saint Joseph's downed Drexel (2-1), Lafayette (1-0), Cleveland State (3-0), and Rider (2-0) for its first 4-0 start in team history.
Emily Hanrahan leads the team with three goals, while five others have one apiece. Hanrahan scored the team's second goal in the season-opening win over Drexel, and she logged a brace against Cleveland State. Hanrahan scored a team-high three goals as a freshman last season on the way to A-10 All-Rookie Team honors.
Saint Joseph's win over Lafayette came on a goal in the 87th minute from freshman Ashley Rhodes.
The Hawks have already matched their win total from all of last season, when they finished 4-9-6 overall and 4-3-3 in the A-10. Saint Joe's was the No. 6 seed in the A-10 Tournament and fell to No. 3 Dayton 1-0 in the quarterfinal round.

The Bucknell-Saint Joseph's Series

These two teams have met 10 times previously, with Bucknell winning six and Saint Joseph's four.
The Bison won five of the first six series meetings starting in 1996. Saint Joe's won three straight in 2002, 2017, and 2018, and then Bucknell prevailed 4-0 on opening night last season.
In that 2023 affair at Emmitt Field, Henna Andican scored in the first half, and Paige Temple, Teresa Deda, and Lea Tarzy all struck in a dizzying five-minute flurry in the second half. The Bison finished with a 23-6 shot advantage, with Andican accounting for eight of those attempts.
The result was just the opposite the last time these two teams met at Sweeney Field, as the Hawks won 5-1 thanks to a four-goal second half. Gabby Bair scored for Bucknell on an upper-90 strike from 30 yards out, but Saint Joe's scored on four of its nine second-half shots.
The first series meeting came in 1996, with Bucknell winning 3-1 on the road. Katie McElligott and Maura Diorio scored second-half goals to break open a 1-1 deadlock. Lindsay Founds scored for the Bison in the 13th minute, but the Hawks' Stephani Alfieri tied it just before halftime.