LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Lafayette Women's Soccer team began its quest to reach the Patriot League postseason for a third straight year in tremendous fashion on Saturday afternoon by knocking off two-time defending tournament champion Bucknell 2-0 at Emmitt Field.

Mired in a scoring drought that had stretched to four games after starting the season 3-0, the Leopards broke through in the 30th minute when junior Alli Munro took a beautiful pass from freshman Sophia Hudson and used the outside of her right foot to slide the ball past the charging Bucknell keeper for a 1-0 lead.

"Sophia made a really good pass," said head coach Mick Statham. "She kind of played a forward-diagonal ball and Alli had made a really good run into space and was clear through. Obviously, she still had to finish it off and that isn't always easy."

As they had done in an early-season win over Villanova, the Leopards demonstrated a calm demeanor on defense with a bend-but-don't-break approach to withstand 16 shots by the Bison and defending nine corner kicks by the opponent.

Bucknell managed to strike one shot off of the crossbar and had another good opportunity sail high in the 82nd minute off of a shot by Alli Russo. Other than that, many of the Bison shot were either blocked or well-defended by the Leopards defense. Sophomore goalkeeper Maggie Pohl earned her third shutout of the season and was credited with four saves.

"We defended the set pieces really well," Statham said. "Even though we were under pressure at times they concentrated and did the job. I thought the defense was excellent and I thought Maggie was excellent."

The Leopards were able to relieve a bit of the pressure when freshman Katie Butler netted her first career goal in the 87th minute. Katie Brannigan and Sophie Saldivar were able to advance the ball to Butler near the right corner of the box. Butler then eluded one defender and sent a shot past the diving Bucknell keeper into the left side of the net.

It was one of many "firsts" on the afternoon for Lafayette. In addition to the first career goals for Munro and Butler, the win was the first over Bucknell for the six seniors, the first against the Bison for head coach Mick Statham and the first since 2002.

"Sometimes you go through a dry spell or concede more goals than you want to," said Statham. "Sometimes you need to credit the other teams for that, but it is just a matter of sticking to what you do and know that is has worked before and having faith. Scoring the couple of goals was key not only for the win but for the confidence of the players."

With the win the Leopards earned a critical three points in the Patriot League standings which, as Statham noted, is three more points ahead of where they stood at this junction last season.

Lafayette returns home to host Holy Cross at 3 p.m. on Saturday in another Patriot League contest. The Crusaders lost to Patriot League preseason favorite Navy 1-0 on Thursday at Annapolis, Md. in their league opener.