Kickin’ It With Patriot League Men’s Soccer
For the complete men’s soccer schedule with links to audio, video and live stats, click here.
Several big games highlight the weekend slate, including the 76th meeting between rivals Army and Navy. Also on the schedule, preseason favorite Colgate will travel to Lehigh, Bucknell will host American and Lafayette will head to Worcester to battle Holy Cross.
Lafayette (4-2-1) at Holy Cross (1-5-0), 3 p.m.
Patriot League play will officially get underway when the Leopards and Crusaders meet in Worcester. The Leopards were the last Patriot League team to suffer a loss, but they enter Patriot League play looking to snap a two-game skid. Lafayette was outscored 7-1 by Northern Illinois and No. 25 Northwestern at the Northwestern Soccer Classic. Prior to last weekend, the Leopards had allowed just one goal in five contests.
Lafayette is unbeaten in its last eight games against Holy Cross, going 6-0-2 against the Crusaders in that span. Holy Cross last beat the Lafayette in the 2002 Patriot League Tournament, topping the Leopards 1-0. The last two regular season meeting between the teams have ended in ties, including last year’s scoreless draw.
Freshman Sean Peckham leads Lafayette offensively. Peckham has piled up three goals and one assist in his first seven collegiate contests. Despite missing three games, junior B.J. Glenn has added two goals. Senior goalkeeper Philip Nelson has recorded a League-best four shutouts in seven games. He also holds the top goals-against-average among Patriot League goalkeepers, allowing just 0.98 goals per outing.
Holy Cross scored two goals in its victory against Northeastern, but the Crusaders have managed just one goal in their other five games. Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year Kyle Miller is one of three Crusaders who have recorded a goal this season. Miller and Jon Werth have combined to produce 31 of the Crusaders’ 53 shots this season.
American (3-3-0) at Bucknell (5-2-0), 4 p.m.
Bucknell enters Saturday’s contest with the best record among Patriot League teams. All seven of the Bison’s games have been decided by one goal. Just two of American’s six outings have been decided by less than two goals. The Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak with a 1-0 win over Virginia Tech on Thursday. American claimed a 3-2 win over the Bison last season. The Eagles have won three of the last four meetings between the schools.
Conor O’Brien, who was named to the Hermann Trophy watch list prior to this season, has not disappointed. The senior midfielder has five goals and three assists for a League-best 13 points. The reigning Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year has also produced a League-high three game-winning goals.
American, which entered the national rankings two weeks ago, snapped a three-game skid in style on Thursday with a 1-0 win in Blacksburg, Va. Mike Worden’s game-winner in the 51st minute was the Eagles’ first goal in a span of 328:08. Daniel Shannon, who assisted Worden’s goal against the Hokies, leads the team with five points (two goals, one assist).
American has not lost a Patriot League opener since a 1-0 loss to Navy in 2003. The Eagles have gone 3-0-2 in that span. Bucknell has won its past six League openers. The Bison’s last loss in a Patriot League debut was a 1-0 overtime loss at Holy Cross in 2002.
Colgate (4-2-0) at Lehigh (3-2-2), 7 p.m.
Preseason favorite and defending Patriot League champion Colgate will begin defense of its crown in Bethlehem, Pa. against the Mountain Hawks. The Raiders enter the weekend with four wins, but just one victory on the road. Meanwhile, Lehigh has suffered its only two setbacks at home. The Mountain Hawks are 2-2-1 at the Ulrich Sports Complex and 1-0-2 away from home. Saturday will mark the fifth time in the past seven years that the two teams have met in Bethlehem.
Lehigh has been red-hot of late, going 2-0-1 in its last three games. The Mountain Hawks played to a 1-1 tie against Penn State on Thursday. That followed a 5-1 win at Delaware and a 3-2 win over No. 24 College of Charleston. Lehigh’s win over the Cougars was the College of Charleston’s first loss of the season. Freshman Austin Decker paces the Lehigh attack. He has a team-best three goals this season.
Alex Weekes, who was named to the Hermann Trophy watch list prior to the season, has been strong in the early portion of the season for the Raiders. Weekes leads the team with eight points (three goals, two assists). His 29 shots have helped Colgate out-shoot its opponents by a 114-81 margin.
Colgate’s 2-0 win over Lehigh last season snapped a string of three straight losses to the Mountain Hawks. The past three meetings between the schools have been decided by shutout, with Lehigh winning two of them.
Army (1-6-0) at Navy (4-3-0), 8 p.m.
It has been a good year for soccer on the Navy campus. Navy’s men’s and women’s soccer teams have combined to go 12-4-1 so far this season, the best combined record in the Patriot League. Navy’s women’s unit has won a League-best eight games. Meanwhile, under the direction of new head coach Dave Brandt, the Mids’ men’s squad has already matched its win total from a year ago. Navy has also matched its goal-total (11) from last season.
Twelve different players have notched points for Navy this season, including nine different goal-scorers. Only two Mids, Michael Rakoczy and Mark Garcia, have recorded multiple goals this season. Rakoczy leads the team with seven points (two goals, three assists). Rakoczy is one of three Patriot League freshmen to lead his team in scoring. All four of Navy’s game-winning goals have been scored by Rakoczy’s freshman teammates.
Army will be looking to snap its six-game losing streak. Since winning its season-opener against NJIT, Army has been outscored 11-0 in the six games that followed. Bryan Connolly leads the Black Knights’ attack. He has scored one goal and produced a team-high 10 shots. Goalkeeper Nick Alexander leads the Patriot League with 40 saves, an average of 5.71 saves per contest.
Navy owns a 35-27-13 advantage in the series, but Army has won the last three meetings between the rivals. It is Army’s longest winning streak in the series since the Black Knights won four straight from 1950-53. Navy is 22-9-4 at home against Army, and since Navy joined the Patriot League in 1991, the Mids are 7-2-1. The series has been played continuously since 1938. The teams placed twice in 1991, 1992 and 1996, as part of the Patriot League Tournament. The top three, and four of the top six attendance marks, at the Glenn Warner Soccer Facility have come against Army, including a school-record 1,751 fans for the 2001 contest.
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