University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: November 14, 2002

Football

Central Florida 45, UB 21

The University of Central Florida used a 17-point fourth quarter to hold off a stubborn UB football team by a 45-21 score in a Mid-American Conference battle on Saturday in UB Stadium.

The Golden Knights, making their first trip to Buffalo, found themselves trailing the Bulls, 21-14, after UB converted a pair of turnovers into touchdowns early in the second half. The Knights turned the momentum, however, on a 66-yard drive to tie the score before Peter Sands stepped in front of a Randall Secky pass and returned the ball to the Bulls' 12-yard line.

Two plays later, UCF had the lead for good on a 14-yard pass from Ryan Schneider—who threw for a career-best five touchdowns in the game—to Michael Gaines. The Bulls, who rallied to take the lead on a pair of Aaron Leeper touchdowns, could not move the ball against the wind in the fourth quarter, as UCF started each drive in the final quarter on UB's side of midfield.

"I certainly think the fourth quarter really created the tale of the game in terms of field position," said UB head coach Jim Hofher. "Our field position was not even close to advantageous throughout the fourth quarter. We just never seemed to get out of the short side of the 50-yard line offensively. We didn't punch it out nearly well enough and that's credit to Central Florida. Defensively, they got some points because of the advantageous field position.

"I'm certainly disappointed in the outcome but I thought our kids played with an awful lot of energy and heart and toughness for the whole game," Hofher said. "Our effort was certainly there. We wanted to try to get something going in the running game and we had some success, but UCF is as high-powered as we expected them to be, and they threw the ball really well."

The Bulls fell behind early when Schneider—who finished the day 25-of-43 for 360 yards—hit flanker Jimmy Fryzel from 10 yards out to give UCF a 7-0 lead with 10:44 remaining in the first quarter. Fryzel finished with a career-high eight receptions for 122 yards. The Bulls rallied to tie on the first of Leeper's career-best three touchdown before UCF took a 14-7 lead at halftime.

UB took advantage of two turnovers in the third quarter to take its first lead of the game. Redshirt frosh Kevin Concepcion intercepted his second pass of the season and returned it 48 yards to the UCF three-yard line. One play later, Leeper went in standing up to tie the score.

On UCF's next possession, another UB freshman, linebacker Bryan Cummings, knocked the ball loose from Alex Haynes with redshirt freshman Richard Sanders recovering at the UCF 43. It was all Leeper after that, as the freshman caught a clutch fourth-and-three pass from Secky and accounted for 32 yards on the ground, including the final 10, as UB took the lead, 21-14, with 7:59 left in the third.

The Golden Knights came right back, however, as Schneider directed UCF to a 66-yard tying touchdown drive before the key interception by Sands.

Leeper led the way for Buffalo with 27 carries for 119 yards, the third time this season he has been over the century mark. Secky finished 14-of-29 for 106 yards, with his favorite target being senior tight end Chad Bartoszek, who had four receptions for 35 yards. The UB defense was led by safety J.J. Gibson, who had nine tackles, including six solo stops. Cummings added eight stops, including two tackles for loss, a sack.

The Bulls will face Akron on the road on Saturday.

Volleyball

Marshall 3, UB 0
Ohio 3, UB 1

UB dropped a three-game match at Marshall on Friday, 30-27, 30-25, 31-29, in MAC action.

The Bulls were led by junior Alexis Bouie with 10 kills and a match-high six blocks, and junior Lindsay Matikosh added seven kills and seven digs. Freshman Katie Weekley and sophomore Molly Schrantz each added five kills for the Bulls, and Weekley also finished with five blocks, while Schrantz added 16 assists and three blocks. Sophomore Kathryn Henry contributed a team-high nine digs, four kills and three blocks, and freshman Amy Brown had seven digs and 14 assists.

UB concluded the weekend with a four-game loss at Ohio University on Saturday, despite pulling out a hard-fought 40-38 win in game two of the MAC matchup. The Bobcats put together 30-22, 30-15 and 30-16 wins in games one, three and four to take the match, led by 28 kills from Laura Hageman. Bouie led the Bulls with a career-high 18 kills, surpassing the 500 mark in career kills in the process (510). Matikosh added 17 kills and 17 digs to the Bulls' effort to enter into the top 10 in both of those categories for a single-season. Matikosh ranks eighth all-time with 397 kills and 10th all-time with 385 digs this season. She currently has 998 kills and 999 digs in her career.

The Bulls (9-19, 1-13 MAC) will travel to Bowling Green tomorrow for a match against the Falcons.

Soccer

MEN'S

Kentucky 4, UB 1 (MAC quarterfinals)

UB suffered a 4-1 loss to Kentucky in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament held last Friday in Huntington, W.Va., ending the 2002 season with a record of 6-9-1.

The Wildcats got on the board early when Craig Pykett connected with Chris McDaniel on a 50-yard pass. The senior forward chipped the ball over UB goalkeeper Brian Wozniak to give Kentucky a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute. The Wildcats scored again just a minute and a half later, when Jamal Shteiwi, Kentucky's leading scorer, took a long pass from Nathan Fleetwood, Kentucky's assists leader, and put home UK's second goal.

In the 28th minute, Wildcat senior J.D. Stephenson took a free kick from midfield that found its way into the box where Anthony Peters was able to tuck it into the back of the net. After allowing the third goal, Wozniak was pulled in favor of junior Chris Vavrina in an effort to shake things up. The Bulls, who hadn't given up more than three goals in any game this season, trailed 3-0 at the half.

The Bulls finally got on the board in the 88th minute when Dave Pidgeon took a pass from Mike Peplinski and ripped a laser from 20 yards out. It was the junior midfielder's first goal of the season. However, Adam Walker scored an insurance goal for the Wildcats in the game's final minute.

WOMEN'S

Bowling Green 2, UB 1 (2 OT) (MAC quarterfinals)

UB's season came to an end with another overtime game, this time in the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament on Nov. 6 at Bowling Green. The Falcons' Julie Trundle scored on a penalty kick midway through the second 10-minute overtime period to give Bowling Green a 2-1 win and advance the Falcons to the MAC semifinals. With the loss, the Bulls end their season with a 7-8-5 overall record. UB played nine overtime games during the season, compiling a 2-2-5 record in those games.

The Bulls outshot the Falcons by a 17-9 margin in the contest, but BGSU goalkeeper Erika Flanders let just one shot get past her, an unassisted goal by freshman Natalia Crofut just under 11 minutes into the second half. Crofut finished the season as the Bulls' leading scorer with five goals and two assists for 12 points.

Bowling Green tied the game at the 62:17 mark when Samantha Meister fed Kristy Coppes for her 12th goal of the year. Both teams recorded three shots on net in the two overtime periods, with the final shot by Trundle proving to be the gamewinner. Buffalo netminder Anna-Lesa Calvert finished with five saves for the Bulls, including a pair of terrific saves in the first extra session to extend the game to a second overtime.

"We had opportunities to put the game away early, but we were unable to raise our level of intensity and that has been the story of our season," said head coach Jean-A. Tassy.

The game, originally scheduled to be played on Nov. 5, was postponed when BGSU freshman midfielder Leslie Dawley collapsed early in the contest and later died. The game was played the following day as a tribute to the fallen Bowling Green freshman.

Later in the week, Devon Russell was named to the All-Mid-American Conference Second Team. This marks the second straight year the junior team captain has been honored by the conference. Last season, Russell was an All-MAC First Team selection.

With Russell's selection to the All-MAC team, Tassy has had at least one of his players honored by the league every year since the Bulls joined the MAC in 1998.

Swimming

MEN'S

Ball State 160, UB 81

UB dropped a 160-81 dual meet decision to fellow MAC member Ball State Saturday at the Alumni Arena Natatorium. With the loss, the Bulls fall to 0-2 overall and 0-2 in league action.

The Bulls won five of the meet's 13 events, with two individuals taking a pair of victories apiece. Sophomore distance specialist Mark Sy took the grueling 1650 freestyle in 16:15.93, winning by 23 seconds over the second-place finisher, Ball State's Jim Lullo (16:38.67). Sy later was victorious in the 500 freestyle in a season-best 4:42.67, two seconds faster than his winning time of 4:44.54 last week against Ohio University.

Also winning a pair of events for the Bulls was freshman diver Patrick Lee. He easily won the one-meter diving competition with a season-best 268.73 points to finish ahead of second-place Ryan Plantz of Ball State (239.78). Lee completed the sweep with a win on the three-meter board with 286.50 points for his six dives, more than 50 points ahead of Plantz. Lee won the one-meter competition last week at Ohio and placed second on the three-meter board.

Freshman Jeff Hurst won the 200 individual medley for the Bulls with a time of 1:58.23.

The Bulls are off for the next couple of weeks. UB will be back in action at the three-day Pittsburgh Invitational, starting Nov. 22.

WOMEN'S

UB 193, Bowling Green 107
Ball State 182, UB 118

UB split its MAC tri-meet Saturday against Bowling Green and Ball State in the Alumni Arena Natatorium. The Bulls (2-3 overall, 1-3 MAC) defeated the Falcons, 193-107, but fell to the Cardinals, 182-118.

UB sophomore Jennefer Brankovsky won three events for the Bulls. Brankovsky opened the day with a victory in the 200 free in 1:55.33. She later posted a win in the 200 backstroke in 2:09.41, touching out second-place finisher Kait Martin of Ball State (2:09.90) by a half-second. Brankovsky capped the afternoon with a win in the 200 individual medley in 2:10.18, beating Ball State's Emily Aubie (2:10.91) by three-quarters of a second.

Jolie Pun won the 1650 freestyle in 17:36.11. UB teammate Trina Sinclair finished second in the mile distance at 17:44.78.

The Bulls also posted strong finishes on the diving boards. Freshman Ashlee Burton won the one-meter competition with 248.25 points, with sophomore teammate Tracy Hoover finishing second at 244.80. On the three-meter board, the Bulls finished first, second and fourth, with sophomore Kim LaHaye scoring 270.60 points to snag the victory. Hoover was third at 233.33, with Burton placing fourth at 225.08.

UB will travel to Pittsburgh for its next competition, the Pittsburgh Invitational beginning on Nov. 22.

Crew

Bulls Make Impressive Showings at Frostbite Regatta

UB's women's crew team completed the fall portion of the 2002-03 schedule with impressive efforts all around at the Frostbite Regatta in Philadelphia. The Bulls sent six boats into the Schuykill River on Saturday, emerging with five first-place finishes in their heats and a second-place showing in the remaining heat.

Saturday's races were the first sprint races of the season for the Bulls. Most races during the fall portion of the schedule are head races, in which boats row one at a time from a designated starting point to an end point, with times compared to the other boats in the field to determine a winner. In spring races—like the Frostbite Regatta, as well as most competition that will be held during the spring—several boats race against each other at once from a standing start.

The Novice 4 team got things started with a victory in its heat, completing the course in 8:38.01, more than 42 seconds ahead of second-place Lafayette. Overall, the Bulls placed fifth among the 14 entrants, with all four boats from the second heat racing faster than UB. LaSalle finished with the fastest time at 7:48.28. UB's entry consisted of coxswain Dawn Kavanaugh, stroke seat Maggie Cote, third seat Joanne Olsen, second seat Bonnie McVicker and bow seat Karen Corey.

The Bulls had two boats entered in the Novice 8 race, with both squads winning their heats. UB's "A" entry of coxswain Kavanaugh, stroke seat Chandra Hazey, seventh seat McVicker, sixth seat Olsen, fifth seat Cote, fourth seat Emilee Norris, third seat Kathryn Vossler, second seat Corey and bow seat Stephanie Spinella won its heat in 7:46.48, more than 29 seconds ahead of second-place Lafayette. The "B" entry finished in 8:06.63, nearly 38 seconds ahead of second-place Delaware in its heat. The "B" boat consisted of coxswain Kaitlin Buchheit, stroke seat Marla Hardin, sixth seat Caitlin Logue, fifth seat Bethany Bruce, fourth seat Georgia Maloney, third seat Jennifer Livingston, second seat Michelle Heller and bow seat Rachel Simson.

UB's Varsity 4 entry won its heat and placed sixth overall among 21 squads. The Bulls' boat, consisting of coxswain Katie Johnson, stroke seat Jessica Ecke, third seat Michelle Schwach, second seat Mary Conniff and bow seat Tracy Clarke, finished in 8:31.90. Penn's "C" entry finished first in 8:07.72, with the Quaker's top two boats also finishing ahead of the Bulls.

In the Varsity 8 competition, the Bulls won one heat and placed second in another to place third and fifth overall among 19 entries.

UB's "A" entry of coxswain Tina LaFountain, stroke seat Kali Spoto, seventh seat Deanna Knighton, sixth seat Kasey Hansen, fifth seat Tara Celestini, fourth seat Lauren Dunn, third seat Victoria Kolomiets, second seat Sara Sheffer and bow seat Clarke raced to a 7:12.56 finish.

The "B" entry of coxswain Johnson, stroke seat Hazey, seventh seat Ecke, sixth seat Schwach, fifth seat Conniff, fourth seat Amy Aldridge, third seat Jessica Barrell, second seat Margaret Siller and bow seat Spinella finished in 7:26.33, less than 10 seconds behind heat winner Delaware, who finished in 7:16.50.

Although the fall season has concluded, the Bulls will not rest. Indoor training will continue throughout the winter. The spring season's first meet will be on March 23 when UB travels to Rhode Island for dual meet competition.