This past week, Bison Women’s Soccer hosted the Villanova Wildcats at home on Aug. 31. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, despite being scoreless for the whole first half. It wasn’t until the first minute of the second half that the Wildcats broke the deadlock.
The Orange and Blue were predominantly on the defensive for the first half and remained not only scoreless but without a shot on goal until the 45th minute. Going into the second half, the Wildcats held a 9-2 shot attempt advantage.
“We knew going into the game that Villanova would be a strong opponent, but that did not stop us from wanting to play our game instead of heading into it with a defensive mindset like we did in the previous two games. With it being tied at half, we talked about how we needed to find passes more and have more confidence on the ball,” Teresa Deda ’25 said.
Ten minutes after the Villanova goal, the Bison struck back, scoring off a corner kick rebound by Henna Andican ’26 in the 56th minute. The goal gave the Bison some energy to build off of, but neither team was able to score to break the draw.
“After the game, [our coach] was a little upset because we did not play to our potential, but she discussed how when we did play ‘our game’ we were successful in our chances and that’s what we need to continue doing,” Deda said.
Preceding the game against La Salle on Sept. 3, the Bison held a 2-2-1 record and headed into the match anxious to improve that.
“Going into the game we knew what we had to do and that was to switch the ball quickly and try to get the ball to the wings for crosses in. We also wanted to have movement off the ball,” Deda said.
16 minutes into the game, after lots of offensive pressure on the Orange and Blue, the Explorers scored; however, the Bison’s 1-point deficit did not last long. Less than four minutes later, the Bison scored with a header from Reese Evans ’25.
In the 24th minute, the Orange and Blue scored off another header, this time by right-back Katie Schiano ’25, who was assisted by Deda.
To seal the win, the Bison finished the first half with a third goal 12 minutes later by Kelley Francis ’25, which was also assisted by Deda, who now has 24 assists in her career and is second place on Bucknell’s all-time list.
“We had a tough start to the game because we had not been used to playing on turf and also the unexpected heat,” Deda said. “After La Salle scored we quickly talked about how we need to pick up the game and find each other on the field. Once we started to connect and move off the ball we became successful.”
No goals were scored in the second half, but both teams each took 10 shots, finishing the game with 16 shots from either side. Bison goalie Jenna Hall had four saves, and the Bison’s record is now 3-2-1.
Women’s Soccer plays again on Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. at home against Colorado College.
