Men's Soccer Travels to Boston U. for Patriot League Quarterfinal on Saturday Afternoon

No. 5 Bucknell (9-3-5, 4-2-3 PL) at No. 4 Boston University (9-7, 5-4 PL)
When: Saturday, Nov. 8, 1 p.m.
Where: Boston, Mass. | Nickerson Field
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoTerriers.com

The Bucknell men's soccer team heads to Boston U. for a Patriot League quarterfinal matchup at Nickerson Field for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.
Bucknell came into Tuesday's regular season finale in third in the table, but settled for a 0-0 draw as Boston U. and Army jumped ahead of the Bison with their wins on Tuesday night.
Bucknell is coming off of a scoreless draw against Loyola and Boston U. is coming off of a 2-1 win over Holy Cross as Ethan Gill scored the match-winner in the 67th minute.
Bucknell is 6-2-3 on the road and Boston U. is 5-4 at home this season.
The Bison have pitched four straight shutouts entering Saturday's quarterfinal.

Last Time Out for the Bison

The Bucknell men's soccer team settled for a 0-0 draw against Loyola at Emmitt Field on Tuesday night. Bucknell takes the fifth seed for the Patriot League tournament as Boston University and Army passed the Bison in the table with their wins on the final night of the regular season.
After coming into the match in third in the table, Bucknell's draw dropped the Bison down to the fifth-seed as Boston U. took a 2-1 win over Holy Cross and Army beat Colgate 2-0. Boston U. will be the fourth seed, and the Bison will travel to take on the Terriers on Saturday at 1 p.m. in a Patriot League quarterfinal.
The biggest moment of the match came in the 89th minute as Bucknell had two great chances to put the game away. David Krumov received a ball towards the top of the box on a corner and fired a shot that would have beaten the keeper. A Loyola defender was well positioned, and cleared the ball off of the goal line. Zane Domsohn got to the rebound, but the angle was too tight to squeeze it past the keeper.
Moments later, Loyola came back down the pitch, looking for the match-winner. Charlie Herley made a great move to beat his defender in the box, but his shot was saved by Rex Alphen at point-blank range to keep the match scoreless.
Alphen made two big saves in the match, including one in the first minute of play in the second half. Alphen replaced an injured Freddie Lapworth early in the first half of action.
Bucknell had plenty of opportunities in the first half, out-shooting Loyola 11-1 with five shots on target in the first 45 minutes. Loyola goalkeeper Dylan Van der Walt made five saves in the first half, and Ryan Haskell came on late in the second half to make a save in the final minutes of the match.
It was a chippy match at Emmitt Field as six yellow cards and one red card were dished out. Loyola had 18 fouls compared to Bucknell's 11.

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell has scored in the final 16 minutes in eight of its 17 matches and scored a goal in the final five minutes in five matches. The Bison are 4-3-1 in matches they have trailed in, losing to George Mason, Lehigh 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 a 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 each of 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 three assists for 13 points.
Bucknell has 28 goals from 11 different goal-scorers to rank first in the PL in goals scored alongside Lehigh.
Forward Drew Roskos leads the squad with seven goals, followed by Lucas with five goals. Roskos leads the league with 15 points and Lucas has 13 points.
Forward Zane Domsohn has nine points on four goals and an assist and forward Jakub Samelko has three goals for six points. Center back Jackson Sullivan has five points this season on two goals and one assist.
Forward Winston Oziri, midfielder Kasper Piela, midfielder Jimmy Pombor, center back Ben Sheffield, center back Collin Sullivan and center back Jacob Thomas all have a goal this season.
Cade Whitmire has four assists on the season for four points and Kasper Piela, Freddie Lapworth and David Krumov each have three assists. Nate Coughlin and Cohen Weaver have two assists. Kiko Hidalgo, Noah Handzel, Zain Elder and Collin Sullivan all have one assist.
Bucknell has been scored on 18 times this season. Lapworth has a .710 save percentage and six shutouts this season. He has made 44 saves in 16 games.
Junior Rex Alphen made one start against Saint Joseph's, making four saves for his first career 90-minute clean sheet. Alphen came on for an injured Lapworth against Loyola and kept the clean sheet on Saturday. Alphen made two big saves, including a breakaway save in the final minute to keep the match scoreless.
In league matches, the Bison have allowed five goals in eight matches and seven of their eight shutouts have come in league action. Only Boston U. and Lehigh have scored against the Bison in league action.
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 Lehigh lead the Patriot League and rank 45th in the nation with 28 goals scored. The Bison are averaging 1.64 goals per game to rank 47th in the nation.
Bucknell ranks first in the PL with 13.24 shots per game and ranks first with 109 shots on goal and 6.41 shots on goal per game. The 6.41 shots on goal per game ranks 25th in the nation and Bucknell's .484 shot accuracy ranks eighth.
The Bison rank third in the PL with 27 assists.
Roskos leads the league with seven goals and is tied for a league-high 15 points. Lucas ranks fourth with four goals scored and ranks fourth with 13 points.
Roskos ranks second in the PL with 47 shots and ranks second with 22 shots on target. Roskos ranks 45th in the nation with 1.35 shots on goal per game. Lucas ranks sixth with 15 shots on target.

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.

Boston U. at a Glance

Boston finished the regular season with a 9-7 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the Patriot League.
The Terriers picked up league wins against Navy, Bucknell, Loyola, Colgate and Holy Cross.
The Terriers took on the defending National Champions in Vermont in the season-opener, falling 4-0. The Terriers are 2-0 against Ivy League Schools, defeating Brown and Harvard.
Boston U. has 27 goals from 12 different goal-scorers this season and 30 assists from 14 different players.
Ethan Gill and Pharis Petrica lead the team with 13 points each. Gill has six goals and one assists and Petrica has three goals and seven assists.
Andrea Di Blasio is third on the squad with 11 points on five goals and an assist. Lapo Romieri has eight points on two goals and four assists.
Sebastian Otero has three goals and one assist for seven points, and all three of his goals are game-winning goals to lead the PL.
Austin Mobray has four assists and Quin Delamater and Dylan Williams each have three assists.
Boston U. have allowed 24 goals and have kept three shutouts this season.
Goalkeeper Sheraz Saadat has started the last seven matches, allowing 11 goals with a .738 save percentage. Saadat has made 31 saves and has one shutout against Colgate
Ben Alexander has allowed 11 goals in seven matches this season with a .667 save percentage. William Clavier has played in two matches, allowing two goals with a .714 save percentage.

History/Facts

Boston U. leads the all-time series 4-3-6 over the Bison dating back to 2013. The Bison do not have a win over the Terriers since 2019, and the Terriers have won each of the last four matches.
Boston U. took down Bucknell 3-2 in an exciting match at Emmitt Field earlier this season. Bucknell was ranked No. 24 in the nation at the time of the match.
All five goals were scored in the first half of action. Bucknell scored an early goal through Zane Domsohn before Petrica leveled the score with a great goal from the halfway point.
Jack Lucas gave the Bison the lead back with a free kick goal, but Gill and Otero scored to give Boston U. the 3-2 advantage.

Next Up

The lowest remaining seed from the quarterfinal matches will take on No. 1 American in a semifinal next Tuesday. The highest remaining seed will take on No. 2 Lehigh in the second semifinal.
No. 3 Army will host No. 6 Lafayette in the other quarterfinal match at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Men's Soccer Travels to Boston U. for Patriot League Quarterfinal on Saturday Afternoon

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Rex Alphen

Nate Coughlin

Zane Domsohn

Zain Elder

Noah Handzel

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 Travels to Boston U. for Patriot League Quarterfinal on Saturday Afternoon

Related News

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Rex Alphen

Nate Coughlin

Zane Domsohn

Zain Elder

Noah Handzel

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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