Men's Lax Takes on No. 4 Army Saturday at West Point

Bucknell (5-7, 2-4 PL) at #4 Army West Point (10-1, 5-1 PL)
When: Saturday, Apr. 19, 12 p.m.
Where: Michie Stadium, West Point, N.Y.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: GoArmyWestPoint.com

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison are down to two games remaining in the regular season and have work to do in order to finish in the top six and qualify for the Patriot League Tournament. At 2-4 in league play, Bucknell is tied for seventh place with Loyola, but just one game behind Colgate and Navy at 3-3. The Bison lost to Loyola but have a win over Colgate and will finish the season at home against Navy on Apr. 25.
The first order of business is a tough test against No. 4 Army, which is 10-1 and has played like one of the best teams in the country this season. The Black Knights are coming off a 12-11 overtime win over arch-rival Navy, and they have non-league wins over the likes of North Carolina, Yale, Rutgers, and Massachusetts, who have all been ranked this year.
Saturday's game is part of a Bucknell-Army lax doubleheader, as the women's teams will follow at 3 p.m.
Bucknell is looking to bounce back from a 16-14 non-conference loss to Bryant on Long Island last Saturday. The Bison scored three straight goals in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 14-14, but John Tomsheck broke the tie with 5:14 to go. Luke Renaud made a big save in the final minute to give the Bison a final possession, but Bryant stole it back on the ride, and Tomsheck added an empty-netter with 29 seconds left.
Connor Davis had a natural hat trick in the first quarter and finished with four goals, and Owen Kovacs added three. Anthony Panetti tallied two goals and two assists, and freshman Leyton Zorumski scored his first career goal to ignite that fourth-quarter comeback.
Michael Meyer had scored multiple points in every game this season before being held off the sheet on Saturday. He still leads the team with 53 points and has blown by his previous career highs in goals (22), assists (31), and points. Meyer enters the weekend ranked third in the Patriot League and eighth nationally in assists, and fifth in the PL and 17th nationally in points.
Meyer recorded his 100th career point earlier this season and now has 108 on 53 goals and 55 assists.
Connor Davis and Army's Jackson Eicher enter Saturday's game tied for the Patriot League lead with 38 goals. Eicher has done it in one fewer game, so his 3.45 goals per game is a notch ahead of Davis' 3.17. Those two rank second and 10th nationally in GPG.
Davis also has 10 assists, and his 4.00 points per game are eighth-most in the league.
Davis now has 146 career goals, extending his Bucknell record. He tied Justin Zackey's 31-year-old standard against Lehigh and broke the mark against Loyola. Davis' 146 goals are fourth-most among all active Division I players. Cornell's CJ Kirst has 219, followed by Princeton's Coulter Mackesy with 156 and Pratt Reynolds of Siena with 150. Davis has averaged just under a hat trick (2.92 goals per game) over his career.
After missing his first two seasons with injuries, Kovacs has emerged as another top scoring threat on the attack unit. Kovacs has started the last seven games and now has 17 goals and four assists on the season.
Bucknell ranks 11th nationally in scoring at 13.25 goals per game.
Nine Bison have reached double-digit points this season. In addition to Meyer, Davis, and Kovacs, other top scorers are Will Hopkins (14-11-25), Luke Brunner (14-6-20), Sean Berrigan (10-9-19), Panetti (9-9-18), Peter Grandolfo (12-5-17), and Cam Doolan (11-5-16).

Close defenseman Will Pickering leads the team with 22 caused turnovers to go with 25 ground balls. Pickering ranks fifth in the Patriot League and 25th nationally in CTs with 1.83 per game.
Bucknell's man-up unit is 19-for-43 (.442) on the season. That figure ranks 16th nationally and fourth in the Patriot League.
The Bison have done a good job taking care of the ball, as they lead the league in fewest turnovers with 13.83 per game. That is the fifth-best mark in the nation.
Goalie Luke Renaud stopped a season-high 17 shots against Loyola. He made 11 saves in the second half of a tight game, including three big ones in the final 90 seconds to help force overtime. Renaud has a 5-4 record this season with a .485 save percentage and 11.93 GAA.
Colin McLoy has gotten hot at the faceoff X down the stretch. In his last four games, McCloy is 54-for-91 (.593) with 31 ground balls. He recorded a career-high 10 GBs against Bryant on Saturday.
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.

Army at a Glance

The Black Knights are 10-1 and ranked No. 4 nationally in both the USILA coaches' poll and the Inside Lacrosse media poll.
Army's lone loss was a 10-9 overtime verdict against Boston University on March 22. At 5-1 in Patriot League play, the Black Knights have a one-game lead over the Terriers and Lehigh. Army finishes the regular season with two home games, against Bucknell on Saturday and Loyola next Friday. Army has already clinched a Patriot League Tournament berth but is vying for the No. 1 seed and the right to host the semifinals and championship.
Army leads the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 6.55 goals per game. Its average scoring margin of 6.91 is also No. 1 in the nation, and goalie Sean Byrne leads the country in both GAA (6.49) and save percentage (.641).
Jackson Eicher (38-25-63) ranks second in the nation in goals per game and third in points per game, and Brayden Fountain (32-12-44), Gunnar Fellows (22-12-34), Evan Plunkett (14-10-24), and Hill Plunkett (11-11-22) are also top point-getters on a team that ranks second in the league in scoring offense (13.45).
Army has won 51.6% of its faceoffs on the season. Will Coletti, a 2024 All-American and Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Year, holds academy records for faceoff wins and ground balls. He missed time with an injury earlier this season, but in seven games has won 67 of 109 (.615) with 37 ground balls.

The Bucknell-Army Series

Bucknell is 14-33 all-time against Army in a series that dates back to 1979. The Black Knights have won four straight meetings dating back to Bucknell's last win, a 10-7 verdict at West Point in 2018.
Reed Malas, the older brother of current Bison SSDM Grant Malas, led the Bison with three goals in that 2018 win at West Point. Will Sands added two goals and two assists, and Christian Klipstein made nine saves in the crease.
Army won 19-11 in Lewisburg last season. The Black Knights, who were ranked No. 12 at the time, jumped out to a 4-0 advantage and led 11-4 at halftime. Reese Burek scored five goals and Eicher had four for Army. Connor Davis paced the Bison with four goals, followed by Sean Berrigan with three and Luke Brunner with two.
Bucknell is 2-2 all-time against Army in the postseason. The last tournament clash came in 2013, when the Bison won 12-9 in a semifinal game at Lehigh.

Next Up

Bucknell wraps up the regular season next Friday at home against Navy at 7 p.m. Senior Night ceremonies will precede the contest.

Men's Lax Takes on No. 4 Army Saturday at West Point

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sean Berrigan

Luke Brunner

Connor Davis

Cam Doolan

Peter Grandolfo

Will Hopkins

Owen Kovacs

Grant Malas

Colin McLoy

Michael Meyer

Anthony Panetti

Will Pickering

Luke Renaud

Leyton Zorumski

Men's Lax Takes on No. 4 Army Saturday at West Point

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sean Berrigan

Luke Brunner

Connor Davis

Cam Doolan

Peter Grandolfo

Will Hopkins

Owen Kovacs

Grant Malas

Colin McLoy

Michael Meyer

Anthony Panetti

Will Pickering

Luke Renaud

Leyton Zorumski

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