Bison Women’s Soccer faced off against Lafayette this past weekend and came home with a 2-1 victory against the Leopards. The Bison ended the grueling game with a 2-1 win while also securing first place in the Patriot League with only one more game left in the regular season. 

Thanks to Teresa Deda ’25 kicking a corner flag on the left side, she escaped, turned two defenders and was able to pass the ball to an open Reese Evans ’25 who secured a goal for the Bison and her third overall goal of the season. This assist by Deda marked her 36th, which gave her ownership of Bucknell’s all-time record. 

During the second half, Deda was able to secure a goal after intervening in the midfield and starting a 2v1 counter the other way. She ran up the field into the box and fired her shot for her ninth goal of the season. 

Lafayette started their push a little later but was able to score for the first time after five meetings against the Bison. They only led by 1 point and the Bison had to harness their defense. Goalkeeper, Jessica Benattar ’26, ended the night with two massive saves and limited the Leopards to only five total shots. 

One of the game leaders, Sydney Hess ’26, thought “It was a tough game and Lafayette is a very good team. They are very organized out of the back and difficult to score on, however, we capitalized on our opportunities on offense and were solid on defense to keep them to one goal. I feel as though there were different aspects of the game between this year and last year because last year we were home and this year we were away. However, I feel as though we played for something greater this year, winning the league, that allowed us to have a very solid performance.”

Lafayette came out strong, but the Bison securing an early goal in the first half and maintaining high defense was what got them the win over the Leopards once again.