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With the win, the Bulls are assured of the first winning season since 1986, when UB was 9-2 as a Division III program, and the first Division I winning season since 1969. The Bulls have won only 7 games since returning to Division I in 1993.

The Bulls came back from a 10-0 deficit at halftime, the biggest second-half comeback since UB rebounded from a 15-0 hole to beat Buffalo State, 19-15 on Oct. 15, 1992.

The Bulls held the normally potent Flying Dutchmen to a total of four first downs in the game and limited their offense to 139 yards total.

The game turned on a school-record 91-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mark Taylor to junior Jamie Gasparre early in the third quarter. Two possessions later, the two hooked up again from six yards out. The Bulls' defense also had several outstanding performances.

Craig Guest led the charge with 11 tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup while Dan Curcione and Anthony Scott had eight tackles each. Curcione and Steve McDuffie had 1.5 sacks while Keith Hansen had a pair of sacks and now has 8.5 on the season.

The Bulls host Division II power New Haven Saturday afternoon at UB Stadium for the home finale. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m.

ROYALS CAPTURE MID-CON CROSS COUNTRY TITLE; BULLS SECOND
Guided by five All-Conference performances, the UB women's cross country team captured their third consecutive league title Saturday winning the Mid-Continent Conference's Championship Meet at Valparaiso, Ind. The victory was also the 10th consecutive conference title dating back to 1987, when the team was in the Division II Mideast Conference.

UB finished second behind Youngstown State in the men's championship trailing the Penguins by just seven points.

Three Royals earned First-team All-Mid-Continent Conference honors by finishing in the top five in the 5K race. Stacey Strothmann led the Royals with her second-place finish in a school-record setting 17:38.74, breaking her old mark of 17:39 set last month at the Notre Dame Invitational. Freshman Jennifer Folckemer was fourth in 18:21.27, earning her the league's Newcomer-of-the-Year award. Casey Spencer was fifth at 18:27.40, also picking up first-team honors.

Marie Macander and Gretchen Welch earned second-team All-Mid-Con honors with ninth and 10th place finishes respectively. Head coach Dick Barry was picked by his peers as the league's Coach-of-the-Year.

In the men's race, Chris Keenan finished fifth to earn First-team All-Mid-Continent honors. Keenan completed the 8K course in 25:51.42. Chris Bossert finished seventh at 25:59.88 to take second-team all-league. Freshman Patrick Nolan finished 11th in 26:08.81 and earned the Mid-Con's Newcomer-of-the-Year Award.

Troy State's John Stanley captured the individual title and the Athlete of the Year award with his finish of 25:18, a time identical to his winning time last year. Youngstown State's Brian Gorby earned Coach of the Year honors.

UB VOLLEYBALLERS QUALIFY FOR MID-CON TOURNAMENT
The Royals earned their first trip to the Mid-Continent Conference Volleyball Championships with their showing at last week's East Division Cluster matches in New Britain, Conn. UB is now 5-1 in the conference, thanks to their 2-1 showing over the weekend, good for second place in the division, and 17-14 overall. The top two teams in each division move on to the tournament. UB's first-round opponent will likely be defending conference champion Valparaiso, the current leader in the West Division.

UB began the weekend with a four-game win over host Central Connecticut State as Candi Sims led the Royals with 17 kills and added nine digs and five blocks. Somer Deschambault registered 43 assists and team-best 17 digs with five blocks while Aprille Sweeting led the block party with eight. UB finished the night with 17.5 total blocks.

The only blemish on the Royals' conference showing was their four-game loss to Troy State. Sims again led the way with 11 kills and 18 digs, while Deschambault had 32 assists and four blocks before being forced to leave the match with an ankle injury. Deschambault also missed Sunday's Youngstown State match with the injury. Despite missing half the weekend, Deschambault's 23 digs and nine blocks in two matches still netted her the Mid-Continent's Defensive Player-of-the-Week, the second time this season she has won the honor. Middle-hitter Kathy Brinkworth also missed the Troy State and Youngstown matches with an injury.

On Sunday, the Royals assured themselves of second place with a four-game win over Youngstown State. Christina Gianino stepped in for the injured Deschambault by tallying a career-best 46 assists and 12 digs. Sims, Amy Burda and Nancy Rose, in place of the injured Brinkworth, came up big with 12, 11 and 10 kills respectively. Rose and Burda also had six blocks apiece as UB collected 14 team blocks.

This weekend the Royals face Missouri-Kansas City, who clinched second place in the West Division, on Friday and meet nationally ranked and future Mid-Con member Oral Roberts on Saturday. The Mid-Continent Volleyball Championship is the weekend of Nov. 23 in Valparaiso, Ind.

MEN'S & WOMEN'S SWIMMING
The Bulls and Royals opened their 1996-97 seasons with victories over Edinboro. Coach Budd Termin's men's squad downed the Fighting Scots 123-47 while Dorsi Raynolds' women's team took a 138-30 win.

Korry Miller highlighted the win for the Bulls, taking the 200 backstroke in 1:56.58 and teaming with Carl Carlson, Pat Quinlan and Aaron Roof to win the 400-medley relay in 3:35.36. Carlson also won the 200 breaststroke in 2:14.55 and Quinlan finished first in the 500 free in 4:50.57.

Megan Connolly and Sue Bohnel were triple winners for the Royals. Individually, Connolly took the 400 IM (4:46.87) and 200 fly (2:15.68), while Bohnel was victorious in the 50 free (25.85) and 200 breaststroke (2:32.65). The duo also were part of the winning 400-medley relay (4:11.20) with Laura Herrick and Kim Theetge.

Both squads open their home season with a dual meet against St. Bonaventure on Saturday.

WOMEN'S SOCCER
UB routed visiting Howard University, 5-0, Saturday morning at RAC Field. The victory moves the Royals past the .500 mark with an 8-7-3 record, while the Bisons drop to 3-14.

Freshman Dawn DelGuidice had three assists in the contest. Senior Lori Perillo added a goal and an assist. Nicole Tresino started the scoring 4:19 into the match taking a Perillo pass and firing a shot past Howard goalkeeper Bobbett Plummer. UB added two more first-half goals as Beth Costello (11:46) and Perillo (24:15) hit the mark on DelGuidice passes.

UB lead 4-0 early in the second half as Lauren Hartmayer scored on DelGuidice's third assist. Kelly Starchok added a goal late in the match on an assist by Anna Ventresca.

The Royals fired 35 shots while the defense allowed Howard to get away only five shots. UB goalkeeper Mary Morgan needed just three saves to register the shutout, the fifth by the Royals this season.

MEN'S SOCCER
Ediru Okpewho netted the game-winning goal as the Bulls shutout Mid-Continent Conference foe Oneonta State 1-0 Saturday in Oneonta. Okpewho scored the goal off of corner kick at the 70:15 mark of the match. UB goalkeeper Jim Schoenberg recorded four saves to earn his third shutout of the season and picked up Mid-Continent Conference Player-of-the-Week honors. The victory moved the Bulls to 2-12-2 and 2-3-1 in the Mid-Con's East Division.