Author: Cooper Sutton

By Eric Weiss

Senior Writer

The women’s soccer team had a weekend of highs and lows on the road, coming from behind to defeat Lafayette 2-1 on Friday but falling to Lehigh by the same score on Sunday.

The contest against Lafayette provided few scoring opportunities, as both the Leopards and the Bison showed strong defenses. The Leopards were able to sneak onto the scoreboard in the 27th minute for the first goal of the match. For the rest of the first half, neither team was able to mount any sustained pressure.

“Lafayette definitely was prepared for a fight, but we knew that we just had to play our game and we could come out with a win,” Jules Harris ’11 said.

The Orange and Blue came through in the second half. Christa Matlack ’11, the Bison’s most prolific scorer, leveled the score at 1-1. With the goal, Matlack became only the sixth player in program history to record 30 goals in her career.

Tara Cort ’12 set up the next goal for the Bison as she found Brooke Stokes ’11 open and passed so Stokes could score in the 77th minute. The Orange and Blue continued to hold Lafayette in check for the rest of the game and the team walked away with a 2-1 victory.

“Every game is an important game at this point in the year, and our team showed that against Lafayette,” Amanda Citron ’11 said.

In the contest against the Mountain Hawks, the Bison found themselves behind early as Lehigh got onto the scoreboard just 12 minutes in. Although the Bison were outshot 6-2 in the first half they did not allow another goal for the rest of the half.

The Hawks added an insurance goal at the beginning of the second half, slowing the Bison’s chance at a comeback win. The Orange and Blue were able to get onto the scoreboard with 6:19 left as Cort drew a penalty when she was brutally taken down inside the box. Caitlin Holtz ’11 converted on the try and brought the Bison back within striking distance.

The Orange and Blue were unable to muster another shot on goal in the last five minutes of play, and the opportunity to remain undefeated in the Patriot League slipped away.

While most of the University heads home for Fall Break, the women’s soccer team will continue play on Saturday afternoon against Navy in Annapolis, Md. Navy remains at the top of the Patriot League standings.

By Cooper Sutton

Sports Editor

Both the women’s and men’s swimming teams opened up their seasons well this past Friday in Baltimore against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Even though both meets were non-scored, many Bison walked away with top finishes.

On the women’s side, the Orange and Blue earned seven first-place finishes in races. Both co-captains, Molly Goebel ’11 and Macey Keath ’11, won races this weekend. Keath won the 200-yard breaststroke with a final time of 2:29.02, .44 points in front of second place. Goebel won the 100- and 200-yard freestyles.

Kelly Pontecorvo ’14 added two wins to the Bison total in the first meet of her college career in the 500- and 1000-yard freestyle.

“I was pretty nervous for my first meet and think that my nervous energy added to my success at the meet. It was also a very exciting atmosphere to swim in. I am not used to all the cheering and team support on the deck, so having that definitely impacted my racing and my attitude,” Pontecorvo said.

The rest of the team’s wins came from Emily Wright ’14 (50-yard freestyle) and Lisa Bolle ’13 (diving).

The men’s team also won seven first-place finishes, led by Jonathan Podniesinski ’12 who won the 200-, 500- and 1000-yard freestyle events.

Christian Treat ’13 took first place in the 100-yard Individual Medley (IM) and teammate Mike Nicholson ’14 won the 200 and 400 IMs.

“I was a bit nervous going into the meet, knowing that it was my first time swimming at the college level, as well as my first time representing Bucknell in competition. My teammates, however, were very encouraging, as they have been all year, and I really think they are the reason that I was able to overcome my nerves and put up some decent times,” Nicholson said.

Nathaniel Frye ’12 claimed the other Bison victory, winning the 200-yard breaststroke. Diver David Magaro ’13 placed second in both the one-meter and three-meter competitions.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will be back in action Oct. 23 when they travel to Fairfax, Va. to take on George Mason University.

By Cooper Sutton

Sports Editor

The women’s volleyball team had its best weekend of the season, downing two league opponents in straight sets at Lehigh and Lafayette. The team improved to a solid 3-1 record in Patriot League play.

Katie Baumgarten ’13 earned Bison Athlete of the Week honors. She had 18 kills and 26 digs in the two matches.

Baumgarten attributed her success, as well as her team’s, to preparation.

“As a team we did a great job preparing for each match. We scouted each team by watching film, finding out their weaknesses and tendencies and capitalizing on those weaknesses when we played them,” Baumgarten said.

The Orange and Blue blew Lafayette out in the first two sets on Friday, allowing 14 and 15 points respectively. The third set was much closer but the Bison won it 33-31. Lafayette is now 0-3 in Patriot League play.

On Saturday, the Bison faced Lehigh (7-9).

“Although Lafayette did not pose much of a threat either skill- or fight-wise, Lehigh showed some of both,” Heidi Kamp ’11 said.

The team played one of its best matches of the season, winning in straight sets for its second consecutive win.

“As a team, we maintained a great balance between keeping our cool and having a sense of urgency, which together brought our team the victories over the weekend,”Kamp said.

The Bison allowing 21, 20 and 22 points, respectively, in the three games. Baumgarten put away 10 kills and achieved a hitting percentage of .360 to solidify her performance. Kyleigh McAhren ’12 and Ragin Jackson ’13 scored eight and six kills respectively.

“There was no single key player from this weekend, which made our team even more difficult to stop because the other teams had to focus on stopping multiple threats at a time instead of being able to hone in on one or two dominant players,” Kamp said.

The team plays league-opponent Colgate this Friday at home at 7 p.m.

Nathan Coughenour

Contributing Writer

The men’s club hockey team opened its season with a heartbreaking last-second loss at home on Saturday, losing 4-3 to the Millersville Marauders.

The young and inexperienced Bison were hard-pressed the entire game to get in a rhythm, and they never held a lead.

The scoring opened when the Marauders beat Bison goaltender John Chestnut ’14 on a power play six minutes into the game. Three minutes later Sandy Smith ’13 scored to tie the game at one.  Dan Minnis ’11 Bison forward and Chestnut had the assists. Two more goals were scored at the end of the first period to cap off an extremely contentious first third of the game.

In the second period, both defenses started hitting harder and really began to play well, with the only Marauders goal coming on a power play four minutes into the period.

In the end, the game came right down to the wire in the third period. John Wroblewski ’12 scored his second goal of the game at the beginning of the period to tie the match. The Mauraders then scored with 16 seconds left.

“Well I honestly think we out-played them. We pressured them very well in the offensive zone, caused a lot of turnovers and had plenty of chances. I think we played a smart game on both ends of the ice … but the puck just didn’t bounce our way,” Wroblewski said.

Considering the team only had two practices to prepare for this game, the Bison had a solid performance.

They finished with 30 shots but had five penalties and went zero for four on the power play. Chestnut made 25 saves.

There is a lot of positive enthusiasm surrounding the team, which came in second in its league last year.

“Based off of our pre-season and the wave of talented freshman we received, it looks as though we are even better this year,” President Connor Curry ’11 said.

The Bison will have another chance to test their limits Oct. 9 at 4:15 p.m. when they take on Princeton.

By Eric Brod

Senior Writer

The women’s golf team finished in 10th place this past weekend at the Nittany Lion Invitational in State College, Pa. The Bison finished the 54-hole tournament with a score of 937. Host Penn State won with 901.

On Saturday, Bridget Wilcox ’14 set a program record with a round of 69 (three-under-par) and finished in 16th place—the Bison’s top finisher— with 229. Wilcox was the Bison’s top finisher.

She said that staying focused throughout the second round was the key to her success.

“I stayed in the moment and gained confidence with each shot that I hit. I was four under on my first nine and knew that I had to continue to stay confident and in the moment,” Wilcox said.

Overall, Wilcox felt the tournament was a huge learning experience for her.

“I gained a lot of confidence from this tournament and learned that by staying in the present and not thinking about the next shot really helped me to focus,” Wilcox said.

The team also matched the program’s single round scoring record on Saturday.

“[Wilcox’s] great round along with four other scores in the 70s helped us accomplish a team score of 296. We shot this score in our home tournament a few weeks ago and it is only a matter of time before we break this record,” Katie Jurenovich ’11 said.

Jurenovich was the only Bison to shoot in the 70s all three rounds (78-76-78). Minjoo Lee ’12 had another strong finish, carding a 78 in the final round to finish the day as the team’s top scorer. Lauren Bernard ’11 also had a strong tournament, finished with a 74 in the second round and an 83 on Sunday.

The women return to action Oct. 11-12 when they compete in the Zippy Invitational in Akron, Ohio. The men’s team, which was off this week, will also be back in action next weekend, playing in the William & Mary Joe Agee Invitational.

By Joyce Novacek

Contributing Writer

The field hockey team held its opponents scoreless in two road games over the weekend, defeating Holy Cross 2-0 on Saturday and Harvard 3-0 on Sunday.  The senior class powered the Bison offense—each of the four seniors on the rosters scored a goal—and Kelly Bruvik ’11 scored in each game.

The Bison had a slow offensive start opening Patriot League play against the Crusaders, only taking three shots in the first 35 minutes of play.  The second half began much like the first, but when the Bison drew a penalty corner with about 13 minutes left to play, Christine Weiss ’11 scored the first goal of the game and her fourth of the season.

Only a few minutes later, Bruvik netted a goal that was the final one of the game.  The Orange and Blue defense limited the Crusaders to only three shots.

“This weekend when we played Holy Cross we focused on professionalism and the ability to play through any distractions. We were definitely able to keep composure even when things felt like they were beginning to become frantic,” Morgan Kauffman ’11 said.

Kauffman’s teammate Corinne Raczek ’11 expressed similar thoughts.

“Our mentality was to play with a sense of professionalism this weekend, especially for the Holy Cross game.  We knew it was going to be a game that would test how well we all collectively deal with impediments that could change the outcome of the game,” she said.

The team’s composure continued in Sunday’s game when it traveled to Cambridge to defeat Harvard and earn its fourth shutout of the year, the first time since 1999 that a Bison squad has earned four shutouts in a single season.

Goalkeeper Sarah Zargarpour ’12 started in net and earned her fourth shutout of the year.  With five shutouts in her career, Zargarpour is tied for ninth all-time in Bison field hockey history.

Kauffman scored the Bison’s first goal against the Crimson halfway through the first half.  With less than 10 minutes left in the first frame, Raczek scored her first goal of the season, sending the Bison into halftime with a 2-0 lead.

The Orange and Blue came out strong in the second half, and Bruvik netted her second goal in two days, putting the Bison up 3-0. The Bison out-shot the Crimson 13-8.

“Our defense should be very proud of themselves.  We’ve been gradually improving our defensive efforts and mindset each game.  We definitely should have put in a few more against Holy Cross, but the three goals on Sunday left us feeling a little more satisfied,” Raczek said.

On Saturday, the Bison travel to Easton, Pa. for their second Patriot League match up against Lafayette. They will then return home Sunday to play Columbia.

By Eric Weiss

Senior Writer

The women’s soccer team defeated American 3-0 on Saturday at home in Lewisburg. Led by three seniors, the Bison controlled the game from start to finish.

The Bison struck first in the 24th minute off of a corner as Caitlin Holtz ’11 sent a ball to the back post that was almost blocked by the American keeper. For the rest of the half the Bison battled against a few American runs but the staunch back line for the Orange and Blue stayed strong.

“We played our hearts out to open up the season, and I know if we continue to play this way we will be very successful in the future,” co-captain Amanda Citron ’11 said.

Kelsey Johnson ’11 scored off a scramble in front of the net in the second half for a 2-0 lead as a penalty kick for the Bison set up the play. Johnson scored for the first time since her first year. For the rest of the second half, the Bison controlled an American offense that came in on a three-game winning streak.

In the 84th minute Christa Matlack ’11 helped add an insurance goal when she dribbled into the box, read the goalie and passed to a wide open Kelliann Doherty ’11 who put the game away.

“Even though we were up we never let up, and I think this sent a message to the rest of the league,” Doherty said.

The Bison continue with Patriot League play next weekend when they travel to Lafayette on Friday and Lehigh on Sunday. With continued success, the Bison will hopefully gain home field advantage for the Patriot League playoffs.