Football

Western Michigan 45, UB 17

All-American candidate Tim Lester completed 22-of-36 passes for 407 yards and three touchdowns to lead Western Michigan to a 45-17 victory over UB Saturday night in a Mid-American Conference clash.

Lester got hot after intermission, completing 14-of-21 passes for 256 yards and tossing three touchdown passes as Western Michigan (5-2, 4-0 in the MAC) was able to pull away from a Bulls' team that battled the heavily favored Broncos on even terms during the first half. UB fell to 0-6 and 0-5 in the MAC with the loss.

The Bulls came storming out of the gates and took the opening kickoff 67 yards in 16 plays before being stopped on fourth-and-one at the Broncos' nine-yard line. UB struck first in the game when Scott Keller booted a 29-yard field goal with 2:00 left in the first quarter.

Lester, however, led WMU to three straight second-quarter scores as the Broncos captured a 21-3 lead before UB responded. The Bulls executed the two-minute drill to perfection and quarterback Joe Freedy hit flanker Drew Haddad from 12 yards out with just 21 seconds left in the first half to cut the lead to 21-10.

The second half, however, belonged to Lester. After a 31-yard field goal by Brad Selent upped the lead to 24-10, Lester hooked up with senior split end Steve Neal for back-to back touchdown aerials from 11 and 18 yards out before UB's Dan Shefferly scored the first touchdown of his career with 12:40 left in the game from one yard out. That score came after safety Craig Rohlfs forced a fumble by Neal on a punt return that was recovered by Kevin Johnson. Rohlfs finished the game with a team-high eight tackles. Teammate Eric Pipkins added six tackles, an interception and a blocked kick for the Bulls.

Lester closed the scoring with a 33-yard hookup with Joshua Bush to reach the final margin.

The Bulls squandered opportunities to make the game closer in the second half. Pipkins intercepted a Lester pass early in the third quarter at the WMU 35 and returned it 22 yards to the Bronco 13. However, the Bulls failed to convert a fourth-and-one at the Broncos' four-yard line.

Offensively for the Bulls, Freedy finished 18-of-35 passing for 191 yards with an interception and a touchdown. Haddad, meanwhile, saw a streak of four straight 100-yard receiving games broken, but still had nine catches for 87 yards, going over 200 career receptions (201) in his career.

Sophomore tailback Derrick Gordon had a career-high 30 carries for 97 yards. Freshman split end Andre Forde had a career-best five catches for 69 yards and also returned three kickoffs for 53 yards.

Soccer

Men

Kentucky 2, UB 0

UB had its five-game winning streak snapped this past weekend, with a 2-0 loss to Kentucky on the road. The Bulls fell to 9-4-1 overall and 2-2 in the MAC.

Women

UB 2, Marshall 1 OT
UB 2, Ohio 1

The women's soccer team rebounded from its first loss of the year to take two road wins in conference play. The Bulls beat Marshall 2-1 in overtime and then defeated defending regular-season champ Ohio 2-1, improving to 7-1 in MAC play.

Elizabeth Pfeffer provided the scoring punch for the Bulls, recording all four goals in the two victories.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Freshman Elizabeth Pfeffer led the women's soccer team to two wins-2-1 in overtime over Marshall and 2-1 over Ohio-last weekend as she scored all four goals for the Bulls, who are now 13-1-1. Junior Tony David finished first in the men's cross country team's last home meet of the season against Western Ontario. David placed first with a time of 26:39.7 as UB won the dual meet 42-19.

Volleyball

Western Michigan 3, UB 0 (7-15, 7-15, 3-15)
Eastern Michigan 3, UB 0 (9-15, 10-15, 4-15)

The Bulls dropped two MAC games this weekend, losing to host Western Michigan Friday and to Eastern Michigan Saturday.

Sophomore outside hitter Keri Shiels was the top performer for Coach Nadine Lilavois's squad, as she tallied 10 kills and one dig against Western Michigan and 14 kills and seven digs against Eastern Michigan.

Tennis

Women

UB 6, St. Bonavanture 3

Coach Kathy Twist's team traveled to St. Bonaventure and downed the host institution 6-3 on Saturday. Singles spots three through six-Karen Maynard (6-0, 6-3), Kris VanSchoonhoven (6-0, 6-1), Shani Amarasinghe (6-2, 7-5) and Gloria Rodriguez (6-3, 6-0), all posted wins. The number two and three doubles teams also were victorious, with scores of 8-5 and 9-7, respectively.

Cross Country

men Defeated Western Ontario, 42-19
Women Defeated Western Ontario, 29-28

The Bulls hosted their final home and dual meet of the 1999 campaign as both the men's and women's teams defeated Western Ontario under sunny skies, but windy and muddy course conditions.

The women's squad narrowly edged out Western Ontario by a 29-28 margin. Senior Casey Spencer was UB's top finisher in the women's race as she placed third overall with a time of 19:11.3. Junior Eileen Rose and freshman Melissa Burrows followed closely as they finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

For the men, junior Tony David led the Bulls' charge as he crossed the finish line first at 26:39.7. Freshman Todd Ludden had an impressive second-place finish at 26:51.7