Oct. 22, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bucknell women's soccer team has won three straight matches and sits in a first-place tie with American atop the Patriot League standings at 3-1. That is the good news. However, the task ahead for head coach Ben Landis and his team will not be an easy one. The Bison have three regular-season matches remaining, and all three come on the road against teams not far behind them on the table.
The stretch drive begins Thursday night at West Point, when the Bison take on Army at Clinton Field. Game time is 7 p.m., and Army will have a live Webcast feed and live stats available at goARMYsports.com.
Bucknell will then travel to Holy Cross for a 1 p.m. game on Sunday, followed by the regular-season finale at Colgate on Oct. 31.
With only three games remaining, seven of the eight teams still hold realistic chances of qualifying for the four-team Patriot League Tournament. Bucknell and American both sit atop the conference with nine points (although the Eagles hold the head-to-head tiebreaker). Navy and Colgate both have seven, followed by Lehigh with five and Holy Cross and Army with four apiece.
The Bison, who are now 8-6-1 overall, are coming off an impressive 3-1 victory over preseason favorite Navy last week at Emmitt Field. Red-hot striker Christa Matlack scored the first two goals in that game, and she comes in with 14 points in her last five games.
Prior to the Navy win, Bucknell defeated Lehigh (3-1) and Lafayette (2-0), also at home.
Army is 6-8-2 overall and 1-2-1 in Patriot League play. The Black Knights snapped a five-game winless streak with a 1-0 overtime win over Lafayette on Saturday.
Bucknell and Army met twice last season, and the Bison did not manage a goal in either game, spanning more than 214 minutes. In the regular-season meeting in Lewisburg, the Black Knights won 1-0 on a Dymon Washington goal in overtime. Then in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals at Navy, the two teams played 110 scoreless minutes before Army advanced on penalty kicks.
After winning only four matches (4-14-1) last season, Holy Cross has had quite a turnaround season. The Crusaders have a winning overall record at 7-6-3 and are tied with Army at 1-2-1 in the league. Holy Cross hosts Colgate on Thursday night while Bucknell and Army are squaring off at West Point.
Last season Bucknell defeated the Crusaders 3-0 in Lewisburg.
This week the Bison will be going up against two first-year coaches. At West Point, Stefanie Golan is just the second head coach in Army women's soccer history. She replaced the legendary Gene Ventriglia, who retired after the 2008 season after 23 years on the Army bench. Golan was Ventriglia's assistant coach before being tabbed as his successor. Darren Gallagher has Holy Cross playing well in his first season with the Crusaders. The native of Scotland was formerly the head coach of the Boston Renegades in the USL W-League as well as technical director of Massachusetts Premier Soccer.
BISON WOMEN'S SOCCER NOTEBOOK
Coverage
- Click HERE to watch the Bucknell-Army game live via goARMYsports.com.
- Click HERE to follow Bucknell-Army live stats via goARMYsports.com.
Bucknell vs. Army Series Notes
- Army leads the all-time series 13-10-2.
- Prior to last season, the Bison had won four straight meetings and had been 5-1-1 in the previus seven games with the Black Knights. But last year Army won 1-0 in overtime in the regular season, then the two teams officially tied in the Patriot League Tournament, but Army advanced on PKs and eventually won the league title.
- These two teams have played seven times in Patriot League Tournament games. The Bison won 2-1 in overtime at home in the semifinals in 2007, and Bucknell scored a 3-1 victory in the PL championship game in 2005.
- In that 2007 postseason game at Emmitt Field, current senior Molly Linhart scored on a header off a Caitlin Holtz free kick in the seventh minute of overtime to give the Bison a 2-1 win. Linhart also assisted on Jennifer Dervarics first-half goal.
About Army
- Army is coming off a 1-0 overtime victory over Lafayette at home on Saturday. Freshman Caroline Rice scored the game-winner 4:27 into extra time.
- Sophomore Monica Lee has started the last two games in goal after Alex Lostetter had started the first 14. Lee recorded her first shutout in the win over Lafayette.
- Elizabeth Betterbed leads the team in scoring with nine points on three goals and three assists. Rice and Deanna Clegg have two goals apiece.
- Army has been outscored 15-11 on the season. The Black Knights have managed just two goals in their last six games.
- Army has non-conference wins over NJIT (3-0), Stetson (2-0), Saint Louis (1-0), Hartford (1-0) and Fairfield (2-1).
- Bucknell and Army played only one common non-conference opponent. While Bucknell won 1-0 at Iona on Sept. 13, the Black Knights lost 1-0 on the Gaels' home field a week later.
Bucknell vs. Holy Cross Series Notes
- Bucknell and Holy Cross have met every season since 1991, and the Bison own a 12-5-2 series lead.
- Bucknell is 6-2-1 against the Crusaders at home and in Worcester, Mass.
- In last year's 3-0 win at home, Jennifer Dervarics had a hand in all three goals. She scored the first two, then had an assist on the third when Kelliann Doherty knocked in a rebound of Dervarics' shot. Bucknell had an 18-10 shot advantage, and Kathryn Sutton had three saves on her clean sheet.
- In the last meeting in Worcester in 2007, Bucknell produced the biggest win in series history, prevailing 6-0 behind a three-goal, seven-point outing from Dervarics.
- The teams have met once in the Patriot League Tournament, with Holy Cross winning 1-0 in the semifinals at Colgate in 2000.
- The Bison have won the last four meetings with Holy Cross, outscoring the Crusaders by a 14-2 margin.
About Holy Cross
- The Crusaders began the season with an impressive 2-0 win over UMass and have been solid ever since. Holy Cross has also beaten Manhattan (2-1), Central Connecticut (2-0), Wagner (6-0), New Hampshire (2-1), Lafayette (1-0) and Yale (4-1), while playing to draws with Providence (0-0), Lehigh (0-0) and Brown (2-2 on Tuesday night).
- Holy Cross is 4-1-3 at home this season, with the only loss coming to Fairfield (2-0).
- The Crusaders feature one of the Patriot League's top goal-scorers in Shelby Stand. Stand has seven goals on the season, tied with Bucknell's Christa Matlack and Navy's Carissa Youker for most in the league.
- Liz Early has 10 points on three goals and four assists, while reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year Katherine Donnelly has a goal and leads the league in assists with seven.
- Maura Fox, Paige Harrison and Chelsi Pugliese have three goals apiece.
- Holy Cross has outscored its opponents 22-20 in 16 games, despite being outshot 204-153.
- Mary Ferketic has made 12 starts in goal and is 4-5-3 with four shutouts and a 1.11 goals-against average. Jessica Stone has four starts and is 3-1 with one clean sheet and a 1.56 GAA.
About the Bison
- Bucknell is two games over .500 for the first time this season after winning three straight at home over Lafayette, Lehigh and Navy.
- Christa Matlack on Monday was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in the last four weeks. Matlack scored twice in the 3-1 win over Navy, her third two-goal game in the last five games. She has six goals and two assists for 14 points in those five contests.
- Matlack, who was also named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week on Monday, took over the Patriot League lead this week in both points per game (1.23) and goals per game (0.54). Matlack's four goals against Patriot League competition are twice as many as any other player in the league.
- Matlack now has 23 career goals, which puts her in sole possession of eighth place on Bucknell's all-time list. She has also moved up a spot to seventh on the career points list with 57.
- Brooke Stokes scored a huge insurance goal in the second half of the Navy game, upping a 2-1 margin to 3-1. Caitlin Holtz assisted on the play. It was her fourth assist of the year and 13th of her career, moving her up to eighth on Bucknell's career list. Chelsea McGorry (12) and Matlack (11) are not far behind on the assist list.
- Prior to Saturday's game, Navy had posted shutouts in 10 of its first 15 matches and had outscored foes 31-8 en route to an 11-2-2 record.
- McGorry now has points in three straight games. She had an assist against Lafayette, a goal and an assist against Lehigh, and an assist against Navy.
- The Bison are two wins shy of reaching the 10-win mark for the fifth year in a row.
- The Navy win was coach Ben Landis' 53rd at Bucknell, moving him to sole possession of second place on Bucknell's career list. He is nine shy of Chrissy Findlay's record total of 62 wins.
- Bucknell is receiving votes in the NSCAA Mid-Atlantic Region rankings this week.
Looking Ahead
- After battling Army and Holy Cross this week, Bucknell closes the 2009 regular season at Colgate on Halloween. That will be a 4 p.m. start in Hamilton, N.Y.
- The Patriot League Tournament will be played on the campus of the highest-seeded team on Nov. 6 and 8.
