The Bucknell women’s soccer team secured a point against a nationally ranked team for the first time in team history, largely due to the stellar performance of goalkeeper Jenna Hall ’24. Hall’s performance against #17 nationally ranked West Virginia included six saves alongside several breakups. Hall’s play earned her Patriot League Goalkeeper of the week, which is the third of her career, as she has earned one in each of her three collegiate seasons. 

This performance is nothing new for the star junior, as this is the second solo shutout of the season for Hall and 10th solo shutout of her career. Hall’s 0.50 goals-against average and .900 save percentage both lead the Patriot League, and her save percentage also ranks 17th nationally. However, despite her attaining much individual success, she largely attributes her accolades to the performance of the team. 

“Everybody did a great job of executing the game plan, our defenders did great and our coaches put forth a great game plan. I want to thank them a lot for their contributions because if it wasn’t for them, there would have been a lot more shots on goal and a lot more to do,” Hall said. 

This team effort is on par for the Bison, as they are used to being the underdogs and surpassing all expectations of them. They entered last season ranked ninth out of the ten teams in the Patriot League preseason poll and ended up winning the Patriot League tournament. This year, being ranked second in the preseason poll, Hall and the Bison still want to keep that same competitive fire that fueled them as underdogs in the past.

“Obviously, winning the Patriot League is the ultimate goal. But I think taking it game by game and really focusing on who we are playing in front of us will help us reach our goal more than anything. The Patriot League tournament will all come at some point, but if we don’t focus on this game Friday and keep thinking about the end, we won’t be able to execute well and ultimately achieve our goals,” Hall said.

This Friday, Hall and the Bison look to build off of this momentum going into Patriot League play in a star studded matchup versus Navy. Hall believes that this previous game versus West Virginia was the perfect stepping stone heading into this game. 

“This is the best feeling we could have had going into Patriot League play this upcoming Friday. I’m excited to go out there and see what we can do. This game versus Navy is going to be a competition. We beat them by one goal in the overtime period in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament last year, so they are going to be out for blood. Right now they are ranked to finish first and we are ranked to finish second, so it’s going to be a battle.” 

This Friday matchup will take place at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.