LEWISBURG, Pa. - Defender Mayowa Alli (Lanham, Md./Bishop McNamara) scored on an acrobatic header 11 minutes into the game, igniting a three-goal first half that Bucknell parlayed into a 4-1 victory over Saint Francis (Pa.) on Thursday night at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. Freshman Pat Plourde (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern) registered a goal in his collegiate debut, and Ryan Sappington (Barboursville, Va./Shattuck-St. Mary''s) and Josh Plump(Millburn, N.J./Millburn) also scored for the Bison, who emphatically rebounded from last week''s home loss to Binghamton. Luke Joyner (Dallas, Texas/J.J. Pearce) recorded two assists for the Bison (1-1), who outshot Saint Francis 12-2 in the first half and 17-7 overall. Tommy Caso(Phoenix, Md./McDonogh) played the full 90 minutes in goal and recorded the victory, conceding only a bad-hop goal to Wayne Tiller in the 56th minute after the Bison had already racked up a three-goal cushion. Now 1-1-1 on the season, Saint Francis had yet to allow a goal this year in four previous games - two exhibition victories in addition to a scoreless draw with North Carolina State and Monday''s 3-0 rout of Pittsburgh. But after freshman Brian Ward (Manlius, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) struck the crossbar with a hard shot five minutes in, the Bison got on the board just 11:17 into the match on a free kick from their own half of the field. Defender Nader Sawtarie(Bethany, W.Va./Linsly School) sent the long ball in from near the right sideline all the way to the left end line, where Alli delivered a leaping header that just snuck across the line inside the right post. The Red Flash nearly drew even in the 18th minute when Tilley beat his defender to the end line and delivered a nice pass to Nick Kolaric, but his shot went just over the bar. Bucknell came up empty on a couple of good flurries, including a shot from Plourde that was saved off the goal line by David Butler. Bucknell did cash in twice more before intermission, however. In the 40th minute, Joyner touched a ball back to Sappington, who split two defenders before unleashing a perfect shot to the upper right corner. Less than four minutes later, with only 1:58 left in the half, Plourde was rewarded for his hard work when he stuffed in a loose ball inside the 6-yard box. Sappington had played the original ball in, and freshman Jonathan Grad(Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin) kept it alive in the goal mouth before Plourde slotted it home. Grad drew an assist on the play for his first collegiate point, while Sappington added an assist to give him a three-point night. Ten minutes after play resumed Tiller found himself in open space on the right side and he fired a hard shot along the ground that appeared to hit a divot in front of Caso, and the ball ramped over his head into the back of the net. With 21 minutes to play sophomore Joe Meyer(Sykesville, Md./McDonogh) had a good look at his first career goal, but backup keeper Darius Motazed made a diving save. Bucknell did come up with a fourth goal at the 80-minute mark when Joyner played a ball forward to Brendan Burgdorf(Westfield, N.J./Pingry School), who nodded it right onto the foot of a streaking Plump, who finished the breakaway for his eighth career goal. For the Bison, the four-goal outburst was the team''s best since a 5-1 win over St. Peter''s on Oct. 6, 2009. Bucknell caps off its three-game homestand on Sunday against La Salle at 1 p.m.