Bucknell Men's Soccer Gets 1-1 Draw at Holy Cross

Plump scores for Bison, now 1-1-2 in Patriot League

Josh Plump

Oct. 13, 2012

Final Stats

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Holy Cross' Luke Melody and Bucknell's Josh Plump swapped goals less than four minutes apart in the first half, and that was all the scoring as the Bison and Crusaders played to a 1-1 tie on Saturday at Smith Stadium. Bucknell is now 5-4-4 overall, and both teams move to 1-1-2 in Patriot League play.

Bucknell and Holy Cross temporarily moved into a four-way tie for third place in the Patriot League standings, but the rest of the league will be in action later on Saturday night.

This game had a familiar storyline for the Bison, who got off to a slow start, dominated the second half, but could not find the go-ahead tally. Bucknell outshot Holy Cross 21-9, including 11-1 in the second half and 6-3 in overtime, But the Crusaders were more efficient with their shooting. They placed seven of nine shots on goal, forcing Mike Lansing to make six saves, but Bucknell put only four of 21 shots on target.

The Crusaders got on the board first on Melody's second goal of the season. Melody headed in a corner kick from Pat McCann at the 22:49 mark.

Bucknell leveled the match 3:33 later on a great individual move by Plump. The Bison senior dribbled past three defenders, cut across the 18 and fired a leftfooted shot past keeper Kevin Wright.

Both teams had good chances late in the match. Lansing stopped Holy Cross' leading scorer Josh Cintas on a breakaway with just over nine minutes to play in regulation. Late in regulation Bucknell's Chris Thorsheim rang the goalpost with a shot, and in the first overtime Jesse Klug beat the goalkeeper but a Holy Cross defender cleared the ball off the line. In the second OT period, Brendan Burgdorf had a clean look at a header but it slipped just wide.

"This is always a tough trip to Holy Cross, and we did not get off to a good start, but we responded well after giving up the first goal," said coach Brendan Nash. "We were much better in the second half, which has been our story the last few games, but also a familiar story is that our execution in the final third needs work."

Bucknell has a non-conference game at Penn State on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., then the Bison host Patriot League rival Army on Saturday at 7 p.m.