Men's Soccer Hosts Lafayette in Patriot League Opener

Lafayette (1-3-1) at Bucknell (0-4)
When: Saturday, Sep. 12, 6 p.m.
Where: Lewisburg, Pa. | Emmitt Varsity Soccer Field
Streaming: ESPN+
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

The Bucknell men's soccer begins league action on Saturday night, hosting the reigning Patriot League champions Lafayette.

The Bison are looking for their first win of the season after being blanked by Old Dominion and Fordham in the previous two matches. The last time a Bucknell team opened the season with four straight losses was back in 1966.

The Leopards have been shutout in each of their previous three matches after beginning the season with a draw and a win. Both Bucknell and Lafayette lost to Fordham 2-0, and the Leopards' lone win came against Binghamton 3-2.

Lafayette knocked off the top-three seeds to become the 2025 Patriot League Champions. Bucknell fell in the first round of the tournament to Boston U.

The Patriot League is off to a rocky start as all teams have combined for a 5-28-20 record. Army, Navy, Colgate, Lafayette and Loyola (Md.) all have a win, and no teams has multiple wins heading into conference play.

Last Time Out for the Bison

The Bucknell men's soccer team was blanked on the road at Old Dominion 3-0 last Sunday at ODU Soccer Stadium.
Bucknell played strong for 72 minutes, but the Monarchs broke through with an olimpico scored by Ludovico Vicini in the 73rd minute.
Bucknell's Kasper Piela was shown a red card in the 78th minute for a second yellow and will miss the match against Lafayette. Old Dominion took advantage immediately and scored on the ensuing free kick through Lewis Rourke, who has three career goals against the Bison.
Micah Wayland scored the third in the 87th minute to polish off the Bison.
Bucknell saw the return of PL Preseason Forward of the Year Drew Roskos and PL Preseason Defender of the Year Jack Lucas. Both players started the match as Lucas played 44 minutes and Roskos played 62 minutes.
Jack Bejarano also returned from injury and made his Bucknell debut with 15 minutes off the bench.

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell has played a fierce non-conference schedule early in the season. The Bison fell to two unbeaten opponents in Hofstra and Old Dominion. Hofstra in currently ranked 15th and ODU ranks 22nd. The Bison also played Pitt who is 3-1-1 this season.
Bucknell is getting healthy heading into conference play. Lucas, Roskos and Bejarano played their first action of the season against ODU after all three of them missed the first three matches. Jakub Samelko also returned to the squad against Fordham.
Roskos, Lucas and Samelko combined for 16 goals and four assists in 2025.
The Bison have struggled to find goals early in the season with only two tallies in four games. The Bison rank eighth in the Patriot League in shots and ninth in shots on target.
Freshman Chayse Snyder scored Bucknell's lone goal against Hofstra, and the 6-foot-4 forward was assisted by fellow freshman Viktor Permyashkin.
Cade Whitmire scored his first of the season against Pitt with a great effort on a diving header against Pitt.
Cade Whitmire and Chayse Snyder have each scored a goal to start the season and lead the Bison in points. Colin Findlay, Viktor Permyashkin and Noah Handzel all have an assist through the first four matches.
Chayse Snyder has shown to be dangerous on the attack. The freshman has six shots and three shots on target through the first four matches.
Junior forward Drew Roskos is the reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year, and he was voted as the 2026 Patriot League Preseason Forward of the Year. Senior Jack Lucas was voted as the Patriot League Preseason Defender of the Year.
Colin Findlay and Viktor Permyashkin are both from central Pennsylvania. Permyashkin is a Lewisburg native, and becomes the first Lewisburg graduate to play for Bucknell. Findlay is from Selinsgrove, just 20 minutes south of Lewisburg. Findlay's mother, Chrissy, is a former Bucknell women's soccer coach, and his father, Jim, served as the head coach at Susquehanna University for 28 years. Chayse Snyder is from Mechanicsburg, just 90 minutes from Lewisburg.
Bucknell has 19 returning players on the 2025 squad. Bucknell's freshman class includes six players: Hamish Riddell, Max Walsh, Marcelo Ojeda, Viktor Permyashkin, Chayse Snyder and Grant Brokaw. The Bison also brought in junior transfers, Colin Findlay and Jack Bejarano.
Dave Brandt is Bucknell's 14th full-time head coach and just the third dating back to 1967. Brandt, who is now in his fifth season at Bucknell, has a remarkable career record of 375-122-56 in stints at Bucknell, 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 2025

Bucknell got off to a hot start in 2025, but struggled to get results in conference play down the final stretch of the season. The Bison ultimately fell to Boston U. on the road 3-1 in the first round of the Patriot League tournament.
Bucknell had a knack for comebacks last season as the Bison went 4-3-1 in matches they had trailed in during the regular season.
The Bison also scored in the final 16 minutes in eight of its 18 matches, and they scored a goal in the final five minutes in five matches.
Bucknell senior class in 2025 combined for eight goals and seven assists last season.
The Bison ranked third in the Patriot League with 29 goals for and ranked second with 1.611 goals per game.
The Bison also led the league with 232 shots and 6.33 shots on target per game.
Defensively, the Bison ranked third in the league with eight clean sheets, and seven of those clean sheets came in Patriot League action.
Jackson Sullivan, the older brother of Collin, was named the 2025 Patriot League Defender of the Year.
Drew Roskos, now a junior, was named the 2025 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Season.

Lafayette at a Glance

Lafayette is 1-3-1 to begin the season with its only win coming against Binghamton.
The Leopards went 8-7-7 last season with a 3-2-4 record in the conference, winning the Patriot League Championship as the sixth seed. They upset No. 3 Army, No. 1 American and No. 2 Lehigh. The Leopards ultimately fell to Cornell in the first round of the NCAA tournament
The Leopards scored three times against Binghamton but have been scoreless in each of their other four matches.
Noa Amankulor, Roy Biegon and Samir Dishnica all scored in the match. Griffin Feather assisted in the match.
Harrison Wolfram has played in all five matches in goal for Lafayette and he has a .759 save percentage with 22 saves. He was named the goalkeeper of the week after posting a clean sheet against Duquesne.

History/Facts

Bucknell and Lafayette are an even 33-33-11 in their history dating back to 1931 where Bucknell won the very first matchup 3-1.
Bucknell defeated Lafayette 2-0 in 2025 with goals coming from Zane Domsohn and Drew Roskos. Cade Whitmire assisted in the match.

Next Up

Bucknell continues a four-match homestand as George Mason, Colgate and St. Joseph's come to town over the next two weeks.
Bucknell takes on George Mason on Tuesday at 7 p.m. George Mason defeated the Bison last season 3-2 on a 90th minute goal.
Bucknell then takes on Colgate on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Men's Soccer Hosts Lafayette in Patriot League Opener

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Bejarano

Grant Brokaw

Zane Domsohn

Colin Findlay

Noah Handzel

Jack Lucas

Marcelo Ojeda

Viktor Permyashkin

Kasper Piela

Hamish Riddell

Drew Roskos

Jakub Samelko

Chayse Snyder

Jackson Sullivan

Max Walsh

Cade Whitmire

Bucknell University Athletics

Men's Soccer Hosts Lafayette in Patriot League Opener

Next Event

Related News

Players Mentioned

Jack Bejarano

Grant Brokaw

Zane Domsohn

Colin Findlay

Noah Handzel

Jack Lucas

Marcelo Ojeda

Viktor Permyashkin

Kasper Piela

Hamish Riddell

Drew Roskos

Jakub Samelko

Chayse Snyder

Jackson Sullivan

Max Walsh

Cade Whitmire

Related Videos