Men's Lax Seeks Third Straight Win Friday Night at Lafayette

Bucknell (4-4, 2-2 PL) at Lafayette (6-3, 2-2 PL)
When: Friday, March 28, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Fisher Stadium, Easton, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoLeopards.com

Bucknell at a Glance

Two hot teams coming off one-goal wins get together on Friday night when Bucknell travels to Easton to face Lafayette. The Bison have won two straight thrillers, 18-17 at No. 15 Colgate and 11-10 over defending Patriot League champion Lehigh, to level their overall (4-4) and league (2-2) records. Meanwhile, Lafayette has won three straight, including its first-ever win over Loyola (11-10) last Saturday.
The Patriot League postseason race is shaping up to be a wild one, as only two games separate first place from ninth. All four league matchups last weekend were one-goal games, including two that went to overtime. In addition to the Bucknell and Lafayette wins, Navy survived in OT at Holy Cross, and Boston University upset No. 3 Army at Michie Stadium.
The Bison and Leopards are tied for fifth place in the Patriot League standings at 2-2, just one game behind co-leaders Boston University and Army. The top six teams qualify for the Patriot League Tournament.
Bucknell and Lafayette are two of the league's highest-scoring teams. The Bison rank second in the PL and seventh nationally with 14.75 goals per game. The Leopards rank fourth in scoring (12.11), and they lead all of Division I lacrosse in shooting percentage (.366). Lafayette also ranks second nationally in opponent clearing percentage (.727).
Michael Meyer (19-24-43) and Connor Davis (30-8-38) have carried much of the scoring load for the Bison this season, but last week against Lehigh it was a balanced offensive ledger. Seven different players scored goals and none had more than two.
Davis, who ranks second nationally with 3.75 goals per game, was held to a season-low one goal against Lehigh, but it was a big one on a couple of fronts. Not only did the tally break a 6-6 tie and give the Bison the lead for good in the third quarter, but his 138th career goal tied Bucknell's all-time record. Justin Zackey has held the career mark since 1994, and Davis will hold the record alone with his next goal.
Davis' 138 goals are third-most among all active Division I players. Cornell's CJ Kirst has 202, followed by Princeton's Coulter Mackesy with 145. Pratt Reynolds of Siena is just behind Davis with 136. In 46 career games, Davis has averaged a hat trick – exactly 3.0 goals per game.
Meyer has already blown by his previous career high of 30 points in a season, and with 98 career points (50G, 48A) he is just two shy of 100. Meyer, who had a 10-point game with five goals and five assists at Colgate, ranks fifth nationally in assists (3.00) and sixth in points (5.38) per game.
After missing his first two seasons with injuries, Owen Kovacs has emerged as another top scoring threat on the attack unit. Kovacs has started the last three games and now has 13 goals and three assists on the season. He has scored at least one goal in every game, including some spectacular shots. Both of his tallies against Lehigh were behind-the-back attempts, with the first of the two landing him No. 1 on the Patriot League's "Top 3 Plays of the Week" segment.

Nine Bison have reached double-digit points this season. In addition to Meyer, Davis, and Kovacs, other top scorers are Will Hopkins (8-10-18), Cam Doolan (10-3-13), Anthony Panetti (7-6-13), Sean Berrigan (6-7-13), Luke Brunner (9-2-11), and Peter Grandolfo (7-4-11).
Freshmen Panetti and Sean Kerwick both scored twice in the Lehigh win. Kerwick, the son of assistant coach Matt Kerwick, has seen more time over the last two games and now has four goals on the season.
While the Bison offense has been putting up big numbers thus far, the defense has come up with some timely stops in the last two weeks. Both of the one-goal wins over Colgate and Lehigh ended on the defensive end. At Colgate, goalie Luke Renaud made a point-blank save at the buzzer to preserve the win. More recently against Lehigh, freshman LSM Ollie Hau stripped Dakota Eierman on a drive toward the crease in the final five seconds.
Hau recorded three caused turnovers and four ground balls in the Lehigh win and now has 10 and 11 on the season. Fellow freshman Jack Tully, a short-stick defensive middie, shares the team ground balls lead with LSM John Young with 24 each.
Close defenseman Will Pickering leads the team with 14 caused turnovers to go with 17 GBs. Pickering ranks sixth in the Patriot League in CTs with 1.75 per game.
After his strong second half in relief at Colgate, Renaud earned the start in goal against Lehigh and made 13 saves while playing all 60 minutes. Renaud has a 4-1 record with a .531 save percentage in seven games with three starts this season.
Bucknell's man-up unit is converting at a 50-percent clip (12-24) this season. That figure ranks 10th nationally and second in the Patriot League to Boston University.
The Bison have done a good job taking care of the ball, as they lead the league in fewest turnovers with 13.88 per game. That is the fifth-best mark in the nation.
Head coach Frank Fedorjaka is in his 20th season as Bucknell's head coach. After two stints as an assistant under Hall-of-Famer Sid Jamieson, Fedorjaka succeeded Jamieson after his retirement in 2006. Jamieson founded Bucknell's varsity lacrosse program in 1968, and Bucknell has had only two head coaches in the 57-year history of the program.

Lafayette at a Glance

Lafayette was picked ninth in the Patriot League preseason poll, but the Leopards are very much in the postseason race at 6-3 overall and 2-2 in league play.
Lafayette started the season 3-1 with wins over Air Force, Binghamton, and Le Moyne along with a close loss at Drexel. After a pair of losses to ranked foes in No. 5 Army and No. 14 Colgate, the Leopards have beaten NJIT, Holy Cross, and Loyola in succession.
Saturday's 11-10 verdict marked Lafayette's first win in 14 all-time meetings with Loyola.
The Leopards feature one of the nation's top point-producers in Riley Sullivan (22-31-53), who scored the game-winning goal against Loyola on Saturday. Sullivan leads all Division I players in assists (3.88) and ranks second in points (6.63). A native of Georgia, Sullivan has recorded double-digit points three times this season, including a five-goal, seven-assist outburst in a 19-14 loss to Colgate.
Nicholas Blalock (13-5-18), Joshua Heaney (13-3-16), Benjamin DiBattista (12-2-14), Joseph Duggan (7-4-11), and Mason Hill (8-2-10) have also recorded 10 or more points.
Lafayette has a strong faceoff man in Evan Prince, who is 100-for-170 (.588) on the season with 50 ground balls.
Joe Doherty has started all nine games in goal and has a .539 save percentage and 10.05 GAA. He is coming off a 16-save performance against Loyola.

The Bucknell-Lafayette Series

Bucknell is 48-8 all-time against Lafayette in a series that dates back to Bucknell's first varsity season in 1968.
Lafayette won 14-13 in overtime in Easton in 2023 to snap Bucknell's 11-game series winning streak. The Leopards' last three series wins have all been by one goal: 14-13 OT in 2023, 16-15 in 2010, and 15-14 in 2OT in 1993.
In that 1993 game, Bucknell defenseman Sean Krieg scored an improbable goal from midfield as time expired to force overtime. But Lafayette won it on David Comfort's goal with 2:50 left in the second OT period.
The Bison rebounded from the 2023 loss with a 17-8 win at home last season. Connor Davis had a huge game with seven goals, which was his career high until scoring eight against Merrimack this season. Michael Meyer added three goals and defenseman Will Pickering had six ground balls. Bucknell led 7-3 at the half and then outscored the Leopards 8-2 in the third quarter.

Next Up

Bucknell hosts Patriot League rival Loyola next Saturday at noon at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

Men's Lax Seeks Third Straight Win Friday Night at Lafayette

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sean Berrigan

Luke Brunner

Connor Davis

Cam Doolan

Peter Grandolfo

Ollie Hau

Will Hopkins

Sean Kerwick

Owen Kovacs

Michael Meyer

Anthony Panetti

Will Pickering

Luke Renaud

Jack Tully

John Young

Men's Lax Seeks Third Straight Win Friday Night at Lafayette

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sean Berrigan

Luke Brunner

Connor Davis

Cam Doolan

Peter Grandolfo

Ollie Hau

Will Hopkins

Sean Kerwick

Owen Kovacs

Michael Meyer

Anthony Panetti

Will Pickering

Luke Renaud

Jack Tully

John Young

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