Men's Soccer Set for Midweek Matchup at Saint Francis

Bucknell (4-1-2, 1-0-1 PL) at Saint Francis (0-5-1)
When: Tuesday, Sep. 23, 2 p.m.
Where: Loretto, Pa.
Streaming: N/A
Live Stats: SFUAthletics.com

The Bucknell men's soccer team is set for a midweek non-conference matchup with St. Francis on the road on Tuesday afternoon at the Stokes Soccerplex.
The Bison are most recently coming off a scoreless draw at Colgate on Saturday in a rematch of last year's Patriot League Championship.

Last Time Out for the Bison

The Bucknell men's soccer team fought to a scoreless draw against Colgate on Saturday evening at Beyer-Small '76 Field in a rematch of last season's Patriot League Championship.
Bucknell (4-1-2, 1-0-1 PL) had plenty of opportunities to take the advantage, out-shooting Colgate (4-2-2, 0-1-1 PL) 13-5 with seven shots on target. Colgate's Eric Widrick made seven saves in the match.
The Bison defense was solid yet again, only allowing one shot on target which Freddie Lapworth saved. The Bison have allowed just one shot on target in their last 180 minutes of play.
Bucknell picked up on the attacking front in the second half, firing away five shots on target and three that were blocked. The Bison also threatened with seven corners in the half.

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell sits in second in the Patriot League after two matches alongside Army (1-0-1) and Lehigh (1-0-1). American currently leads the league with a 2-0 start to league action. Boston, the preseason favorites are 1-1 in fifth place, coming to Lewisburg on Saturday for a big matchup with the Bison.
Bucknell is ranked No. 1 in the Atlantic Region in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Division I rankings.
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 five of its first six matches and scored a goal in the final five minutes in two of its matches. The Bison have trailed in five of its six matches to start the season, coming from behind in each to erase the deficit.
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 before scoring four consecutive goals.
Lucas has been on the score sheet in each of Bucknell's first five matches with four goals and one assist.
Lucas leads the Patriot League with nine points, four goals and two match-winning goals. Lucas is this week's Patriot League (PL) Offensive Player of the Week after scoring twice last week; his second weekly award of the season. His goal against George Mason equalized the match and his goal against Old Dominion became the match-winning goal.
His two big goals for the Bison in the first week earned the wing-backer the PL Offensive Player of the Week award; his second career PL weekly award after earning a Midfielder of the Week honor last season. 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 13 shots, including nine shots on target.
Bucknell has 15 goals thus far from eight different goal-scorers to rank first in the PL. Domsohn has three goals on the season and ranks second in the PL. Freshman center back Jacob Thomas scored his first career goal against Hofstra, equalizing the match 1-1 with a goal from 25 yards out. Oziri netted his first career goal against Old Dominion. Roskos netted his first goal of the season at Lafayette.
Lucas, junior center back Kiko Hidalgo, senior midfielder Cohen Weaver, junior midfielder David Krumov, and freshman wing back Nate Coughlin have all tallied an assist. Coughlin provided the assist on a beautiful cross on Samelko's winning goal against St. Bonaventure and assisted Oziri's goal against ODU. Whitmire and Kasper Piela each notched their first assist of the season against Old Dominion and Whitmire has two assists on the season. Goalkeeper Freddie Lapworth has one assist.
Senior Freddie 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.
Bucknell picked up its first clean sheet at Lafayette and ranks eighth in the PL with 10 goals conceded. Lapworth's 4.00 saves per game ranks fourth in the PL.
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 every match since his arrival and was a First Team All-PL selection in 2024.
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.

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.

Saint Francis at a Glance

Saint Francis is still looking for its first win of the season as the Red Flash are 0-5-1 to start the season.
The Red Flash have been shut out in five matches this season and have only scored three goals, all of which came in a 3-3 draw with Patriot League side, Loyola.
In the 3-3 draw, the Red Flash scored goals from Jonah Wolf, Brandon Napoleon and Harvey Skurek. Wolf also notched an assist in the match.
Andre Isreal, Álvaro Planas and Mika Wernicke all grabbed an assist.
Saint Francis and Bucknell have had two common opponents this season in Maryland and St. Bonaventure. Bucknell defeated St. Bonaventure 3-2 at home and battled to a 2-2 draw with Maryland. Saint Francis fell 1-0 to St. Bonaventure and lost 6-0 to Maryland.

History/Facts

Bucknell and Saint Francis are all squared up in the all-time series at 12-12-2. The Red Flash have won each of the last four matchups including a 3-0 over the Bison last season.
Bucknell's last win came back in 2019 where the Bison won 3-0.

Next Up

The Bison are back in action against the Patriot League with its first home match in league-play against Boston University on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Boston handed the Bison its only league loss last season in a 1-0 result.

Men's Soccer Set for Midweek Matchup at Saint Francis

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nate Coughlin

Zain Elder

Kiko Hidalgo

David Krumov

Freddie Lapworth

Jack Lucas

Gavin Newcombe

Kasper Piela

Jimmy Pombor

Drew Roskos

Jakub Samelko

Ben Sheffield

Jackson Sullivan

Jacob Thomas

Cohen Weaver

Cade Whitmire

Thomas Yerbury

Men's Soccer Set for Midweek Matchup at Saint Francis

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nate Coughlin

Zain Elder

Kiko Hidalgo

David Krumov

Freddie Lapworth

Jack Lucas

Gavin Newcombe

Kasper Piela

Jimmy Pombor

Drew Roskos

Jakub Samelko

Ben Sheffield

Jackson Sullivan

Jacob Thomas

Cohen Weaver

Cade Whitmire

Thomas Yerbury

Related Videos