Men's Soccer Takes on Lehigh in Big Patriot League Clash on Saturday

Bucknell (7-2-3, 2-1-1 PL) at Lehigh (6-4-3, 3-1-1 PL)
When: Saturday, Oct. 18, 1 p.m.
Where: Bethlehem, Pa.
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: LehighSports.com

The Bucknell men's soccer team heads to Lehigh for a big Patriot League matchup between two sides who are equal on 10 points at the Ulrich Sports Complex on Saturday.
Bucknell is coming off of a 1-0 win over Holy Cross where Drew Roskos scored in the 86th minute to win the match on Saturday. Lehigh suffered its first league loss on Saturday to American where they fell 3-1. The Mountain Hawks are most recently coming off of 3-2 win over Saint Joseph's on Tuesday.
Bucknell is 4-1-3 on the road with its only road loss coming at the hands of George Mason. Lehigh is 3-1-1 at home, falling only to Delaware.
Bucknell sits in fourth in the league with 10 points and Lehigh is third with 10 points. Boston U. and American headline the league with 12 points.

Last Time Out for the Bison

It was another late goal for the Bison as Drew Roskos and Kasper Piela created some magic for an 86th-minute match-winning goal to lift the Bucknell men's soccer team to a 1-0 win over Holy Cross on the road on Saturday.
Bucknell (7-2-3, 3-1-1 PL) pushed numbers forward late in a scoreless match. David Krumov played a short pass to Piela, who scanned the field for an opportunity. Piela dribbled towards the 18 and chipped in a pass to Roskos making a run into the box.
Roskos took a brilliant touch with his chest into space and volleyed in a rocket for his Patriot League-leading fifth goal of the season to put the Bison in front.
The Bison did not have too much going on the attack for the majority of the game. The Bison had just three shots in the first half with only one on target. Holy Cross (3-6-4, 0-3-2 PL) had just one shot in the first 45 minutes.
The match picked up in the second half as each side took four shots in the first 20 minutes. The Bison had nine shots in the half with five on target, but none troubled the keeper until the winning goal.
Freddie Lapworth made two saves in the match, and Alaistar Hafner Schnee made five saves for the Crusaders.
Bucknell's late goal was the fifth goal the Bison have scored in the final five minutes of a match this season and the third match-winning goal in the final five minutes. Piela earned his third assist of the year, and also assisted on Jimmy Pombor's match-winning goal in the 90th minute at Army just a week ago.

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell is ranked No. 3 in the Atlantic Region in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Division I rankings. Bucknell was ranked No. 1 through the first five weeks until Boston took over for the top spot after the 3-2 win two weeks ago.
Bucknell's impressive start includes a season-opening win at No. 23 Hofstra, a 2-2 draw at Maryland and a 3-2 win over St. Bonaventure.
Bucknell's loss to George Mason came on a last-minute goal from the Patriots to take the match 3-2.
Bucknell has scored in the final 16 minutes in eight of its 12 matches and scored a goal in the final five minutes in five matches. The Bison are 5-2 in matches they have trailed in, losing to only George Mason and Boston.
At Hofstra, the Bison erased a 1-0 deficit before Jack Lucas scored the match-winner in the 75th minute. Against St. Bonaventure, the Bison trailed 2-1 early in the second half before Lucas equalized and junior Jakub Samelko won the match in the 88th minute.
At Maryland, the Bison erased a 2-0 deficit with goals from two of its senior center backs. Jackson Sullivan converted a penalty kick and Ben Sheffield leveled the match with an 86th-minute goal. The Bison erased another 2-0 deficit, equalizing the match against George Mason 2-2 before the Patriots scored its late goal to win the match.
Bucknell then trailed 1-0 to Old Dominion and 2-0 to Saint Francis before scoring four unanswered goals in each of the two matches.
Lucas was on the score sheet in the first five matches with four goals and one assist. Lucas has earned two (PL) Offensive Player of the Week awards thus far. He has two match-winning goals against Old Dominion and Hofstra.
Lucas was Bucknell's top point-scorer and goal-scorer in 2024, tallying three goals and four assists in the campaign. This season, Lucas has five goals and two assists for 12 points. He has 24 shots, including 13 shots on target.
Bucknell has 24 goals thus far from nine different goal-scorers to rank first in the PL in goals scored. Forward Drew Roskos is tied with Lucas for a team and league-high five goals. Forward Zane Domsohn has the second-most goals score with four. Forward Jakub Samelko has three goals. Roskos and Domsohn each have an assist for nine points. Center back Jackson Sullivan has five points this season on two goals and one assist.
Forward Winston Oziri, midfielder Jimmy Pombor, center back Ben Sheffield and centerback Jacob Thomas all have a goal this season.
Cade Whitmire has four assists on the season for four points and Kasper Piela and David Krumov each have three assists. Nate Coughlin, Cohen Weaver and goalkeeper Freddie Lapworth all have two assists. Kiko Hidalgo and Collin Sullivan each have an assist.
Bucknell has been scored on 16 times this season. Lapworth has a .680 save percentage and four shutouts this season. He has made 34 saves in 12 games thus far.
In league matches, the Bison have allowed just three goals in five matches and all four shutouts have come in league actions. The Bison have allowed just 11 shots on goal in five league matches.
Lapworth is the Preseason Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year after being named the 2024 PL Goalkeeper of the Year. Lapworth was a First Team All-PL and a First Team All-Region honoree in 2024. Lapworth was named one of nine goalkeepers to the United Soccer Coaches Goalkeepers to Watch List and one of 29 players named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List.
Senior midfielder Jimmy Pombor was named to the Preseason All-PL squad. Pombor, a holding midfielder, had an excellent debut season in Orange and Blue after transferring from Lock Haven. Pombor has started in all but two matches since his arrival.
Bucknell has 23 returning players on the 2025 squad, including 17 upperclassmen. Bucknell's freshman class includes center backs Jacob Thomas and Gavin Newcombe, wing back Nate Coughlin, holding midfielder Zain Elder and goalkeeper Thomas Yerbury.
Dave Brandt is Bucknell's 14th full-time head coach and just the third dating back to 1967. Brandt, who is now in his fourth season at Bucknell, brought with him a remarkable career record of 354-86-40 in stints at Messiah, Navy, and Hope. Brandt won six Division III national championships at Messiah and led Navy to the 2013 Patriot League title and an NCAA Tournament first-round win.

Rankings

Bucknell and Boston U. lead the league and rank 30th in the nation with 24 goals scored. The Bison are averaging 2.00 goals per game to rank 27th in the nation.
Bucknell ranks first in the PL with 14.00 shots per game and ranks first with 88 shots on goal and 7.33 shots on goal per game. The 7.33 shots on goal per game ranks 9th in the nation and Bucknell's .524 shot accuracy ranks sixth.
Lucas and roskos leads the league with five goals. Lucas' 12 points and two game-winning goals are second-most in the league.
Lucas ranks ninth with 24 shots and ranks fourth with 13 shots on target. Roskos ranks third with 33 shots and ranks second with 17 shots on target.
Domsohn has the second-most goals scored in the PL with four goals. Samelko ranks seventh with three goals. He's fired 11 total shots with 10 of them going on target.
The Bison rank 32nd in the nation with 71 total points.

Bucknell in 2024

Bucknell completed an incredible turnaround in 2024, winning its first Patriot League Championship since 2014. The Bison went from last place with a 2-10-1 (1-6-1 PL) record in 2023 to a 7-7-6 (4-1-4 PL) record in 2024 with a PL regular-season co-championship with Boston University. Bucknell defeated American in penalties in the semifinal match before a 3-0 rout of Colgate in the championship match. The only other team to make a last-to-first finish in their conference last season was North Florida Atlantic Sun Conference.
Bucknell was one of the top defensive sides in the PL last season, allowing just five goals in nine league matches. The Bison only allowed multiple goals in five of its matches on the season, including a 2-1 loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Providence.
The Bison allowed 21 goals in 20 games, allowing 1.038 goals per game that ranked 39th in the nation. Bucknell's eight clean sheets ranked ninth in nation and the Bison ranked 36th with a .400 shutout percentage. Freddie Lapworth led the PL with a .774 save percentage that also ranked 29th in the nation.
On the attack, Bucknell's .950 goals per game average ranked last in the Patriot League despite ranking first in the Patriot League with 210 shots and ranking third with 82 shots on goal. Bucknell had 12 different goal scorers and 13 different players with an assist.
Sophomore Drew Roskos had a great debut season for the Bison, netting three goals with three assists to rank second on the team with nine points. Juniors Cade Whitmire and David Krumov each had a team-high four assists.

Lehigh at a Glance

Lehigh is 6-4-3 overall and 3-1-1 in the conference this season. Last year, the Mountain Hawks finished 6-10-3 with a 4-4-1 mark in the PL. Lehigh fell to Colgate in the Patriot League quarterfinals last season.
Lehigh has had a difficult schedule thus far. The Mountain Hawks have played a couple opponents in the rankings including Marist and the defending National Champions, Vermont.
The Mountain Hawks and Bison have shared several non-conference opponents this season. Lehigh tied Old Dominion 2-2, who the Bison defeated 3-2 at home. Lehigh defeated Saint Joseph's 3-2, who the Bison face on Tuesday.
In the Patriot League, the Mountain Hawks beat Loyola, Navy and Holy Cross and fell to American. The Bison defeated Holy cross will end the season with American, Navy and Loyola.
Lehigh made a miraculous comeback to tie Army 3-3, scoring two goals in the final five minutes. The Bison defeated Army 1-0 at home.
Giacomo Zizza leads the team with nine points on two goals and five assists. Zizza netted one goal and one assist last season.
Yusef Gueye and Thomas Robertson lead the team with three goals each. Gueye has also added two assists to his season tally. Gueye had eight points on four goals in 2024 and Robertson had seven points on three goals and an assist.
Luciano Larrea and Bora Tucker each have two goals this year. Trey Sheeler, Beckett Wenger, Aiden Gonzalez, Sam Davis, Noah Levy and Jason Pynadath all have a goal.
Landon Bealer has three assists, and Sheeler and Wenger each have two assists.

History/Facts

Bucknell and Lehigh are even in the all-time series 30-30-11 dating back to 1960. The Bison are 3-1-1 in the last five matches, and have not been beaten by Lehigh since the spring of 2021.
Last season, the Bison and Mountain Hawks played to a 2-2 draw at Emmitt Field. Roskos scored an equalizing goal in the 65th minute and Ben Sheffield scored a first-half goal. Lehigh's Beckett Wenger scored in the match.

Next Up

The Bison have one more game to cap off a three-game road stretch before returning to Emmitt Field. The Bison travel to Saint Joseph's on Tuesday, October 21 for a 7 p.m. kickoff.

Men's Soccer Takes on Lehigh in Big Patriot League Clash on Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nate Coughlin

Zane Domsohn

Zain Elder

Kiko Hidalgo

David Krumov

Freddie Lapworth

Jack Lucas

Gavin Newcombe

Winston Oziri

Kasper Piela

Jimmy Pombor

Drew Roskos

Jakub Samelko

Ben Sheffield

Collin Sullivan

Jackson Sullivan

Jacob Thomas

Cohen Weaver

Cade Whitmire

Thomas Yerbury

Men's Soccer Takes on Lehigh in Big Patriot League Clash on Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nate Coughlin

Zane Domsohn

Zain Elder

Kiko Hidalgo

David Krumov

Freddie Lapworth

Jack Lucas

Gavin Newcombe

Winston Oziri

Kasper Piela

Jimmy Pombor

Drew Roskos

Jakub Samelko

Ben Sheffield

Collin Sullivan

Jackson Sullivan

Jacob Thomas

Cohen Weaver

Cade Whitmire

Thomas Yerbury

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