Saturday, September 20
Bethlehem, Pa.
2 p.m.
Bucknell University
at
Lehigh
Photo by: Isabelle Roes
Women's Soccer Visits Lehigh in First Round of Patriot League Play
9/18/2025 11:52:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Bucknell (2-5-2) at Lehigh (2-3-2)
When:Â Saturday, Sept. 20, 2 p.m.
Where:Â Ulrich Sports Complex, Bethlehem, Pa.
Streaming:Â ESPN+
Live Stats:Â LehighSports.com
Bucknell at a Glance
When:Â Saturday, Sept. 20, 2 p.m.
Where:Â Ulrich Sports Complex, Bethlehem, Pa.
Streaming:Â ESPN+
Live Stats:Â LehighSports.com
Bucknell at a Glance
- The new-look Bucknell squad made significant strides over the course of the nine-game non-conference slate, and now the Bison take those learned lessons into Patriot League play. The first of nine rounds of league action starts on Saturday with a trip to Bethlehem to face Lehigh.
- Both teams are coming off 1-1 draws last Sunday. The Bison conceded a late goal and settled for a home tie with Towson, while the Mountain Hawks scored a 59th-minute equalizer in a home draw with Seton Hall.
- Bucknell opened the season with three straight agonizing one-goal losses to La Salle, Delaware, and Monmouth, but since then the Bison are 2-2-2, with the only losses coming by 1-0 scorelines to Big East foes Villanova and No. 16 Georgetown. Bucknell has a good 1-1 road draw at Pittsburgh and wins over FDU and Saint Francis.
- Henna Andican scored her team-leading fifth goal of the season in Sunday's 1-1 tie with Towson. Julia Palitti sent a long free kick into the box, Gaby Parker headed it toward goal, and Andican nudged it in to give the Bison a 1-0 lead in the 47th minute. Sophie Thibeault tied it in the 83rd minute for Towson, and the two sides finished 1-1 in a game that featured 38 total shot attempts.
- Andican's goal was the 15th of her career, and she has been in form this season after missing most of 2024 with a broken arm. Andican's five goals this season are just one behind Patriot League co-leaders Marlee Heaven of Navy and Brigid Duffy of Army.
- Katie Connell, who scored the second-half equalizer against Pitt, is second on the team with three goals and eight points. Parker, Dani Howard, Louisa Thomsen, Emma Gavin, and Reilly Traynor have also scored goals, and it was the first career goal for each of them.
- Bucknell's 4-1 rout of Saint Francis is the only one of the team's nine games decided by more than one goal.
- The 1-1 draw at Pittsburgh was a good result for the Bison, who had fallen 5-0 and 5-1 to the Panthers in 2023 and 2024. Bucknell conceded a goal in the seventh minute before blanking Pitt for the final 83 minutes. That left the door open for a sensational game-tying strike from eventual Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week Katie Connell with 20 minutes remaining.
- The Bison are averaging 1.44 goals per game, fourth-most in the Patriot League, and they are third in the league in shots per game at 13.67.
- Sophomore Reese Dolan has started the last six games in goal and has conceded only six goals (one in each game). Her 1.00 GAA ranks fourth in the Patriot League. Dolan has 23 saves over that span, including a career-high seven last time out against Towson, and has a .793 save percentage.
- On the heels of the most successful four-year run in program history, the Bison have a new look in 2025. Twelve Bison have made their first career starts this season. Bucknell won three straight Patriot League championships from 2021-23, and last year the Bison claimed the PL regular-season title before falling to Boston University in a 10-round penalty-kick shootout in the championship match.
- Andican and Connell both earned Preseason All-Patriot League honors. Andican was a Second Team All-PL pick in 2023, but last year she suffered a season-ending injury in just the fifth game of the campaign. Connell was a Third Team All-PL pick as a freshman in 2024.
- Andican, Sydney Hess, and Meghan White are this year's captains.
- Head coach Kelly Cook is in her 11th season at Bucknell, and she has led the Bison to five league titles in her first 10 years. Cook owns a career record of 97-68-29 (.575) and a Patriot League mark of 52-20-14 (.722). She holds the program records for most coaching wins and highest winning percentage.
- 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.     Â
- The Mountain Hawks bring a 2-3-2 record into Saturday's game. Lehigh's wins came back-to-back against La Salle and NJIT, both by 2-1 counts back in August. They have 1-1 ties against Drexel and Seton Hall, and the losses have come against Maryland (3-0), Binghamton (2-1), and Villanova (4-0).
- Lehigh has been outscored 13-7 on the season. Freshman Savannah Conner and graduate student Faith Dobosiewicz lead the team with two goals apiece. Both of Dobosiewicz's goals came in the second half of a come-from-behind win over La Salle. Cathryn Cunninghamd, Sophia Lis, and Tori Okorodudu have one goal each.
- Maggie Ousouljoglou and R'reeyah Mabry-Francis have shared time in goal this season. Ousouljoglou has started six games and has 17 saves and 10 goals allowed in 360 minutes. Mabry-Francis has started one game and come on in relief in four others, and she has 12 saves with only three goals conceded in 270 minutes.
- Lehigh went 3-9-5 overall and 2-6-1 in the Patriot League last season, after posting winning records in both 2022 and 2023. The Mountain Hawks returned Third Team All-Patriot League forward Cyndea Labissiere, who recorded three goals and an assist in 10 games last season.
- Lehigh was picked T-8th alongside Holy Cross in the Patriot League preseason poll.Â
- Bucknell and Lehigh squared off in the first round of Patriot League play in each of the league's first 10 years of existence (1990-99), but this will be the first time the two teams have meet in PL Match Day No. 1 since 1999. Â
- Bucknell is 20-13-5 all-time against Lehigh in a series that dates back to 1991. The Bison have won two straight and are unbeaten (4-0-2) in the last six meetings.
- Bucknell clinched the 2024 Patriot League regular-season title with a 2-0 home win over Lehigh a year ago. Paige Temple and Kelley Francis scored the goals in the opening half-hour, and the Bison saw out Kelly Cook's school-record-tying 94th win.
- Henna Andican and Riley Hayes scored second-half goals in Bucknell's come-from-behind 2-1 win in the team's last visit to Bethlehem in the 2023 regular-season finale. Then-freshman Hayes knocked in a rebound in the 72nd minute to complete the comeback.
- Meghan White also recorded her first collegiate goal as a freshman against Lehigh. It came in the final minute of the first half of a 1-1 home draw in 2022.
- Lehigh's last series win was a 3-1 verdict in Bethlehem in 2019. Allentown native Rylee Donaldson gave Bucknell a 1-0 lead with her first career goal in the 62nd minute, but the Mountain Hawks answered with three in the final 20 minutes.
- Bucknell and Lehigh have met four times in the postseason. Most notably, the Bison defeated the No. 1-seeded Mountain Hawks in penalty kicks (6-5) in the 2005 Patriot League Tournament semifinals, and they went on to beat Army 3-1 in the title match in Bethlehem two days later.
- Lehigh won 1-0 in the 2010 semifinals at West Point and 2-1 in double overtime in the 2018 quarterfinals at Emmitt Field. Bucknell's 2021 championship run started with a 2-0 home victory over Lehigh in the quarterfinal round. Hannah Stuck's first career goal opened the scoring early in the second half, and Claire Mensi added the insurance marker in the 79th minute.Â
- Three of Bucknell's first four Patriot League games are on the road. After the Lehigh game, the Bison travel to Holy Cross the following Saturday before returning home to face Lafayette on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
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