Two Early Goals Power Field Hockey to 2-1 Victory over Sacred Heart and First 2-0 Start Since 2006

Sunday, August 30

Lewisburg, Pa.

11 a.m.

Bucknell University

(2-0)

Sacred Heart

(0-2)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Sacred Heart	1	0	0	0	1
Bucknell	2	0	0	0	2

Photo by: Kevin Nguyen

Two Early Goals Power Field Hockey to 2-1 Victory over Sacred Heart and First 2-0 Start Since 2006

8/30/2026 1:07:00 PM | Field Hockey

Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa.- Graham Field at Holmes Stadium has been a cozy casa for Bucknell Field Hockey over the years and the Bison continued to enjoy home-field advantage on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Sacred Heart (0-2). Bucknell tallied both goals in the first five minutes and turned away Sacred Heart's attempts at equalization. The Orange & Blue moved to 2-0 for the first time since 2006 and improved to 19-6 at home since 2023.

"That's definitely the way you want to start an opening weekend," Bucknell head coach Kelsey Usefara said. "I think just the growth and the confidence that our team started with. We are fairly young. So I think, again, for our group to have the composure that we did is definitely exciting to see. Again, it was such quality opponents and different kind of styles, if you will, that we had to adjust to. So our girls would just adapt and just kind of roll with the punches. It was awesome to see. So just the growth in the team, the confidence that's being built has been awesome."

The score did not reflect Bucknell's dominance on the waterlogged pitch. The Bison outshot the Pioneers 21-5 and drew nine penalty corners to their one. Most of the third and fourth quarters saw Bucknell applying maximum pressure on Sacred Heart's backline. Complementing the offense has been Bucknell's defense - a wall through the opening weekend, allowing only one penalty corner, 14 shots, and collecting nine saves.

The Bison dispensed with hospitality, scoring 57 seconds into the contest. Bucknell immediately attacked the Sacred Heart defense and drew a penalty corner. Julia Corropolese, replacing graduated Kira Leclercq in the role of role of penalty-corner shooter, understood the assignment and sent a shot past the goalkeeper for her first career goal.

"It felt really good," Corropolese said. "I've been waiting for this. We've been practicing corners so much in practice, too. So it feels really good to get one in the back of the net. One great thing is in these first two games and really in the scrimmages, too, the team is producing corners. So if you get more and more corners, you're probably going to score more."

Bucknell added its second goal four minutes later with a rookie-to-rookie connection. Midfielder Carolyn Schiavo spent the entire game darting in-and-out of the Sacred Heart formation with astounding dexterity. She received the ball, completely turned Sacred Heart's defender with a quick left jab into the circle, and sent a pass across the face of goal. Alexis Schulz disengaged from her marked defender by silently fading back and was wide open. She swung and sent the sphere into the left-corner pocket.

"It was definitely really exciting," Schulz said. "I honestly questioned if it happened. It kind of just felt so crazy in the moment."

The early scores sent up hopes of a rout but Sacred Heart proved too tenacious for that outcome. The Pioneers scored three minutes later via a fast-break opportunity. Emma-Rose Phillips sent a pass to a speeding Bridget McLaughlin who ran past the Bucknell backline and deposited the ball in the cage.

Bucknell's defense generally clamped down afterwards. Sarah Althouse only recorded two saves on the stat sheet but she made several proactive plays by venturing off her line and preventing any shots.

Bucknell has displayed offensive diversity with three different goal scorers in the first two games. The Bison lost most of its 2025 offense due to graduation and transfers.

"That was something that I recognized prior to the season," Usefara said. "That I thought could be a great threat of ours is that we are going to have a lot of quality where we're not just a one-trick pony where teams are going to just see that it's only so-and-so scoring. I think that's the threat of our attack base with our midfielders and our forwards.

The 2-0 mark stands a visible testament of Bucknell Field Hockey's soft reset. The roster holds nine freshmen, many of whom have already been playing major roles. Schulz, a local from Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, wasn't even born yet when the Bison last started a season 2-0. She wasn't aware of the statistic - players rarely concern themselves with announcer fodder, but she offered this quote, "I'm definitely excited to keep moving with this team, keep winning, and just keep the ball rolling."

Bucknell remains at home next weekend for a pair of games against Quinnipiac (Sept. 4) and Cornell (Sept. 6).