Men's Lax Hosts No. 18/19 Army Saturday as PL Race Heats Up

Saturday, April 4

Lewisburg, Pa.

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

Army

Photo by: Steven Schoenfelder

Men's Lax Hosts No. 18/19 Army Saturday as PL Race Heats Up

4/1/2026 5:39:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

#18/19 Army West Point (7-3, 2-2 PL) at RV Bucknell (7-3, 3-2 PL)
When: Saturday, Apr. 4, 12 p.m.
Where: Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, Lewisburg, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

Bucknell at a Glance

With only three Patriot League games remaining on the calendar, the Bison find themselves just a half-game out of first place in the jam-packed standings, and now Army visits Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium on Saturday in a key matchup for both sides.
Loyola and Boston University sit atop the table at 3-1, followed by Bucknell at 3-2 and Army and Navy at 2-2. Holy Cross, Lehigh, and Colgate are all 2-3, with Lafayette bringing up the rear at 1-3 but still very much alive for one of the six Patriot League Tournament berths.
Co-leaders Boston University and Loyola square off in Baltimore on Saturday, and other PL fixtures include Lafayette at Colgate, and Holy Cross at Navy.
Bucknell still has Army (home), Boston University (away), and Holy Cross (home) on the schedule. With nine men's lacrosse teams in the Patriot League, one is always relegated to non-conference action in each game week, and Bucknell's "bye" this year falls on the last weekend of the regular season. The Bison will play UMBC in a neutral-site game at Messiah College on Friday, Apr. 24, and they will be pushing to have a postseason spot secured by then.
Bucknell is coming off a dramatic 14-13 overtime win over Lafayette last Saturday. The Bison trailed by as many as five goals in the third quarter, they scored twice in the final 90 seconds of regulation to force overtime, and then they won it on Hans Huber's goal with a tenth of a second left in the OT period.
The Bison have moved up to second in the Patriot League and 16th nationally in scoring at 12.9 goals per game, and now they will face an Army side that leads the league and ranks ninth nationally in scoring defense at 8.9 goals allowed per game.
Bucknell leads the Patriot League and ranks seventh nationally in assists per game at 8.40. Of Bucknell's 129 goals, 84 (65.1%) have been assisted.
Michael Meyer (30-14-44) has hit the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career, and he ranks third in the Patriot League in points, fifth in goals, and 10th in assists. Among the NCAA leaders, he is 19th in points per game and sixth in man-up goals with five.
Meyer has multiple points in every game this season, including a six-goal game against Robert Morris and a six-assist outing against Colgate. Meyer and Boston University's Timothy Shannehan are the only two players in the country to have a six-goal and a six-assist game this season.
Meyer, who assisted on Huber's OT goal last week against Lafayette, has surpassed the 150-point mark in his career (87-69-156). He is now ninth on Bucknell's career points list and tied for eighth with Jim Morris on the career assists chart. He needs 10 more goals to jump into the top 10 on that chart and 13 to become the eighth 100-goal scorer in team history.
Fellow senior attackman Owen Kovacs (19-6-25) scored a career-high five goals in the win over Colgate and has nine goals in the last three games. Kovacs missed his first two seasons due to injury and then broke out with 19 goals in 2025. He has already matched that total this season.
Bucknell has nine double-digit point-producers thus far. In addition to Meyer and Kovacs, Luke Brunner (16-9-25), Peter Grandolfo (18-7-25), Sean Berrigan (12-11-23), Sean Murray (10-8-18), Hans Huber (6-8-14), Anthony Panetti (6-6-12), and Will Hopkins (5-6-11) have all hit double figures. Berrigan and Brunner have surpassed their career scoring highs.
Berrigan (15), Kovacs (15), Meyer (12), and Brunner (11) have all registered a point in every game this season and have point streaks that date back to 2025.
Colin McLoy has been named Patriot League Faceoff Specialist of the Week twice this season. He is converting at a 56.6% clip on the season, fourth-best in the Patriot League and 26th nationally. McLoy won nine of his last 11 draws against Lafayette to help spark the second-half comeback.
Bucknell has used two senior goalies this season. Jaz Zanelli has made six starts and has a .464 save percentage and an 9.57 GAA. Luke Renaud has started four games and has a .407 save percentage and 12.91 GAA. Zanelli made 10 saves against Lafayette last week, including a game-saving stop in overtime, and he also scored his first career goal on a 60-yard shot against the Leopards' 10-man ride.
The Bison have done a solid job protecting the ball and rank 11th nationally in fewest turnovers per game at 13.8. They committed a season-low nine giveaways at Loyola and had just 11 last week against Lafayette.
The St. Bonaventure win on Feb. 6 was the 400th in program history. The team's inaugural season came in 1968.
Frank Fedorjaka is in his 21st season as head coach at Bucknell, and he is joined on the staff by defensive coordinator Kyle Gallagher, offensive coordinator Matt Kerwick, and new assistant coach Jackson Mumford.

Army at a Glance

The Black Knights began the season 6-0, including quality wins over UMass, Rutgers, Yale, and Michigan, but then dropped three straight close games to Lafayette (10-9), Boston University (10-8), and North Carolina (12-11). Army bounced back with a 14-11 home win over Lehigh last week, and it has Bucknell, Navy, Loyola, and Colgate remaining on the schedule.
Army has been ranked as high as No. 8 nationally this season, and they are now No. 18 in the USILA Coaches' Poll and No. 19 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll.
The Black Knights have several potent goal-scorers, but they are perhaps best known as one of the nation's top defensive teams. They rank ninth nationally in goals allowed at only 8.9 per game, and goalie Sean Byrne is second in the nation in save percentage (.608) and 10th in saves per game (13.2). Army has not conceded more than 12 goals in a game all season, and that came in the one-goal loss at No. 5 North Carolina.
Byrne was the 2025 Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Year, a Second Team All-American, and a Tewaaraton Award finalist. Midfielder Evan Plunkett, like Byrne a native of Georgia, was also a Second Team All-American and Tewaaraton Award finalist.
Plunkett (13-20-33) and younger brother Hill Plunkett (19-11-30) are the team's top two point-producers. Gunnar Fellows (21-7-28), Brayden Fountain (21-6-27), Tyler Clark (6-6-12), and Aiden Weisenborn (7-3-10) have also reached double digits in points.
Army has won 44.9% of its faceoffs on the season. Robert Simone has taken the most draws and is 81-for-179 (.453). Caleb Caldwell is 27-for-52 (.519).
Head coach Joe Alberici is in his 21st season as head coach at Army after previously serving as an assistant under Jack Emmer. The Black Knights went 12-2 overall and 7-1 in the Patriot League last season but were upset by Colgate 16-13 in the PL Tournament semifinals and then snubbed for an NCAA Tournament bid.

The Bucknell-Army Series

Bucknell is 14-34 all-time against Army, and the Black Knights have won the last five meetings.
The teams first met in 1979, with Army winning 12-8 at West Point. The Black Knights won the first 15 meetings before the Bison broke through with a 14-10 win in their undefeated season in 1996.
Bucknell's last series win was a 10-7 verdict at West Point in 2018, and its last home win over Army was a 10-8 decision in the 2009 Patriot League Tournament semifinals. The Black Knights have won the last seven head-to-head meetings in Lewisburg.
Army won 20-11 at Michie Stadium last season. The Black Knights, who were ranked No. 4 in the nation at the time, broke open a tight game by scoring seven goals in both the second and third quarters. It was 4-4 after Peter Grandolfo's buzzer-beater at the end of the first, and it was just a 7-6 game midway through the second before Army broke it open with four straight goals. Jackson Eicher (7-2-9) and Gunnar Fellows (5-2-7) combined for 12 of Army's 20 goals. Michael Meyer scored three for the Bison, who put up 11 goals against the nation's No. 1 defense that came in yielding only 6.55 per game.
Bucknell and Army have met four times in the postseason, all in the semifinal round, with each winning two. In addition to Bucknell's 10-8 win in the 2009 semifinals, the Bison also prevailed 12-9 in 2013 at Lehigh. Army's wins were both low-scoring affairs, 9-8 in overtime in 2005 at Navy, and 9-7 at West Point in 2010.

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