Bucknell men’s soccer faced off at home on Emmitt Field against Saint Francis on Wednesday.

The visiting Red Flash scored a goal just nine minutes in to go up 1-0 early in the game, but Jordan Miller ’24 scored for the Bison in the twelfth minute to bring the score to a tie. The goal occurred when a free kick for the Bison was initially cleared away, but MJ Kuczura ’24 won the second ball with a header to put it back in a dangerous area. Miller then headed the ball to the ground and kicked it by the goalie to tie up the game.

The Red Flash found the back of the net once more before the half, then twice more in the second half to bring the final score to 4–1. Nevertheless, the Bison men continued to apply high pressure and work both off and on the ball. Bucknell led in shots 13–12 as well as corner kicks (8–1). The Bison also maintained possession for much of the game, continuing to get chances. Towards the end of the second half, the Bison hit the crossbar twice and even scored, but the goal was not counted due to a close offsides call.  

“Our St. Francis match is another game that goes to show that our team has a ton of potential,” defender Matt Owusu ’24 said. “We can play, and we can compete, but we are missing that killer instinct that we must cultivate in order to sustain shutouts and increase our goal differential.”

The team faced off again on Saturday night, this time against Navy in their Patriot League opener.  

Navy went up about 25 minutes in the first half. The Bison continued to press and get chances, but suffered a serious disadvantage towards the end of the half. In the forty-first minute Eddie Perez-Peleaz ’23 worked back to defend a Navy player on a breakaway in the box and was shown a red card as a result of breaking up a clear goal-scoring opportunity. As a result, the Bison played a man down (just 10 players on the field, to Navy’s 11) for more than half of the game. The score at halftime was 1–0 in favor of Navy.  

In the eighty-fourth minute, Navy was afforded a penalty kick as a result of a Bison defender pushing down a visiting player in the 18-yard box. The PK was buried to bring the final score to 2-0 in favor of the visiting team. 

“It was definitely another tough loss–another game where we had many chances but couldn’t put them away,” Brennan Gac ’24 said. “We had an unlucky red card late in the first half, so we played more than half the game with a man down. And still, we created a lot of chances in the second half but just couldn’t get the job done. We’re a resilient team with lots of heart and fight, so we’ll keep moving forward. Change is coming, and I have a lot of confidence in this group to start getting some points.” 

The Bison men look ahead to their next matchup against American this week for the second game of their Patriot League conference play.