University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: November 18, 2004

Football

UB 36, Central Michigan 6

UB's defense set a Division I-A mark with eight quarterback sacks and the Bulls sent its seniors out in grand style, throttling visiting Central Michigan, 36-6, in the final home game of the season in UB Stadium. The Bulls improved to 2-8 overall and 2-6 in Mid-American Conference play—tying its high in wins in its six-year MAC association.

Junior quarterback P.J. Piskorik rushed for a career-best 85 yards on 10 carries with a touchdown and threw for 122 yards to pace the Buffalo offense. The Bulls' defense was dominating, holding the Chippewas to 56 yards rushing, 121 yards below their average on the season and forcing a pair of turnovers. Senior safety J.J. Gibson led the unit with nine tackles and the Bulls recorded 14 tackles for loss on the afternoon.

The Bulls opened the scoring in the second quarter on a nine-yard run by sophomore Steven King—who rushed for 74 yards on 16 carries—capping a 70-yard drive in five plays. The big play of the drive was a 34-yard dash by Piskorik.

On their next possession, the Bulls struck again. Sophomore tailback Chris

McDuffie scored the first of his two touchdowns on the day from 11 yards out. Piskorik had a key 10-yard run on third down to keep the drive alive and hit senior flanker Matt Knueven with a 17-yard completion to set up the score with 9:32 left before half.

The Bulls' defense set up the next score, forcing the Chippewas back to their own five-yard line before a 20-yard punt set UB up in great field position. UB took advantage, as Piskorik had a 14-yard run and the final four yards to paydirt. The very next possession, the Bulls forced another three-and-out and made a huge special teams play. Junior linebacker Bryan Cummings blocked the punt and Gabe McClover scooped it up and ran 24 yards for a score. Baker's extra point made it 28-0 at halftime.

Defensively, the stars were many for the Bulls, as they limited Central Michigan to 2-of-18 on third downs and just 1-of-4 in the red zone.

UB will close out the season at Connecticut on Saturday.

Volleyball

Kent State 3, UB 0
Bowling Green 3, UB 0

UB completed the regular season with a pair of 3-0 road decisions over the weekend. The Bulls fell at Kent State, 30-23, 30-18, 30-28 and Bowling Green, 30-24, 30-24, 30-23. The losses dropped UB to 8-21 overall and 1-15 in the MAC.

Against the Bowling Green Falcons, the Bulls hurt themselves in game one, committing eight errors in a span of 11 points after the game was tied at 11-11, giving Bowling Green a 19-14 lead that it held on to for a 30-24 win. The Falcons' run continued in game two, as they opened up a 10-2 lead en route to another 30-24 victory. BGSU had 18 kills and hit .333 in game three, ending the match with a 30-23 win.

Cross Country

Koeppel earns All-Northeast honors and advances to NCAAs

Jenny Koeppel placed ninth at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships, held over the weekend in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, and earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Championships, to be held in Terre Haute, Ind. Koeppel also earned All-Northeast honors for the second consecutive season at the regional championships.

In the team competitions, UB's women placed in a tie for ninth with New Hampshire. Both squads scored 257 total points in the 32-team field. Team champion Providence (54) and runner-up Columbia (67) scored automatic bids to the NCAA Championships.

The ninth-place finish by the UB women's squad was the first top-10 finish by a Bulls team at the Northeast Regionals since the UB women finished ninth at the 1997 meet.

In the men's meet, which consisted of 34 scoring teams, UB placed 22nd with 648 points. Providence (51) and Iona (56) earned the automatic bids for first and second place.

Koeppel again led the UB women on Saturday, completing the 6K course in 20:59.7 and ranking ninth among a field of 230 runners. The time was nearly a full minute better than her 21st-place finish a year ago. The top 25 finishers in both the men's and women's races earn All-Northeast honors.

In the men's meet, UB's top finisher was Dan McKenna, who placed 90th overall in a field of 233 runners by clocking a 33:10.2 for the 10K course. It was the first time this season that the men's squad had raced on a 10K course.

Swimming

MEN'S

UB 119, Ohio 115

UB scored a 119-115 victory over visiting Ohio University in Mid-American Conference action in UB's Alumni Arena Natatorium on Saturday. The Bulls picked up their first win of the 2004-05 campaign, evening the record at 1-1 overall and in the MAC.

Senior Mark Sy led the way for the Bulls with three individual victories in the meet. Sy scored easy wins in the distance events, opening with a 9:42.57 clocking to take the 1,000 freestyle by 15 seconds over his closest opposition. Sy later won the 500 freestyle in 4:46.56. He also posted a season-best time in winning the 200 butterfly in 1:53.83.

Jeff Hurst scored two victories for the Bulls. Hurst led a one-two sweep of the 200 individual medley, winning in a season best 1:56.67, while Erik Schwarz also scored a season-best, finishing second in 1:59.84. Hurst also won the 100 freestyle in another season best, 47.68.

Sophomore Luke Adams remained undefeated in the 200 backstroke. Adams won the event on Saturday in 1:57.46, cutting a half-second off his winning time at last week's meet at Miami (OH). Evan McCormack scored a season-best with his second-place finish of 1:58.80.

Diver Patrick Lee scored an easy win on the three-meter board with 261.52 points. He narrowly missed claiming the one-meter crown, scoring 255.52 points to Ohio's Richard Wade (260.25) for his six dives.

The Bulls will travel to Ohio for the University's of Akron's Giant Eagle Zips Invitational starting on Dec. 3.

WOMEN'S

Marshall 155.50, UB 144.50
Ohio 135.50, UB 107.50

A pair of weekend home meets against tough MAC foes did not go UB's way as the Bulls fell to 2-4 overall and 0-4 in league competition. In meets that remained close until the end, UB fell to Marshall, 155.50-144.50, and Ohio, 135.50-107.50, in Alumni Arena Natatorium.

Against Marshall, the Bulls claimed six event victories, including three in the first four events. In the opening race, the 400 medley relay, UB's foursome of Jennefer Brankovsky, Julie Marcotte, Kahla Walkinshaw and Jennifer Raimondi touched the wall first in 4:00.72. Raimondi's freestyle portion of the relay was instrumental in UB picking up the victory as she passed Marshall's Cara Davison in the final 25 yards to claim the victory.

Brankovsky, freshman Cassie Oliveri and Marcotte scored individual victories for the Bulls. Brankovsky won the 200 freestyle in 1:53.61, while Oliveri scored her first individual victory as a collegian with a 1:02.08 clocking in the 100 backstroke. Marcotte helped propel the Bulls to a one-two finish in the 200 breaststroke, winning the race in 2:24.65, with Danielle Gervais finishing second in 2:25.15.

UB also swept the diving competitions. Ashlee Burton returned to the lineup to capture the one-meter event with a six-dive total of 254.55 points, while Kimberly LaHaye won the three-meter competition with 260.18 points. Burton finished second on the three-meter board with 258.83 points.

Against the Bobcats on Saturday, Burton and LaHaye repeated their springboard victories. Burton took the one-meter event with a six-dive total of 233.18 points, while LaHaye placed second at 229.20 points. On the three-meter board, LaHaye came out on top with 243.98 points for six dives, while Burton scored 239.78 points. Miranda Matias scored 228.97 points on the three-meter board to give the Bulls a clean sweep of the top three spots.

In the pool, freshman Andrea Scharf scored a season-best time with her victory in the 50 freestyle. Scharf touched the wall in 24.97, just eight-hundredths of a second better than Ohio's Becky McGaghey who finished second. Brankovsky won the 400 individual medley in 4:32.80, while Walkinshaw took the top spot in the 200 butterfly in 2:08.63.

The Bulls are idle until the first weekend in December, when they travel to Akron to participate in the 2004 Giant Eagle Zips Invitational.

Wrestling

Bulls open season at Oklahoma Gold Tournament

Sophomore Mark McKnight dropped a 6-1 decision to Oklahoma's Sam Hazewinkel, the No. 1-ranked wrestler at 125 pounds in Intermat's individual rankings, in the finals as UB finished seventh in a field of 11 teams at the Oklahoma Gold Classic at Brockport State on Saturday.

McKnight finished the day 3-1, as he knocked off Kent State's Drew Opfer, last year's runner-up to McKnight at the MAC Championships who is now ranked 13th in Intermat's rankings, in the semifinals in an 8-4 decision. McKnight registered two takedowns in his first two matches, beating Bloomsburg's Ivan Ustics and Army's Fernando Martinez.

UB picked up 53 points in the competition to take seventh out of the field of 10 Division I teams and one Division III squad. Oklahoma, ranked eighth in the National Wrestling Coaches Association poll, took first with 212.5 points and MAC rival Kent State took second with 92.5.

Sophomore Pat Lloyd wrestled his way to a fourth-place finish, as he lost to Oklahoma's Matt Storniolo, ranked sixth at 149, in the semifinals, but rebounded to beat Ohio State's Stephen Wolery in a 4-3 decision to guarantee a fourth-place finish. He lost to Ohio State's Ryan Needle, an honorable mention in Intermat's rankings, to finish 3-2 at the tournament.

UB will open its dual-meet season today when it hosts the Eastern

Wrestling League's Bloomsburg University, who finished fourth at the Oklahoma Gold with 84.5 points, at 7 p.m. in Alumni Arena.

Crew

Fall schedule concludes with Foot of the Charles meet

UB completed the fall portion of the schedule with the Foot of the Charles Regatta. The weather conditions, however, were not very conducive to top-notch rowing as snow and gusty north winds forced the racecourse to be considerably shortened.

UB was the only squad from outside the Boston area to compete in the regatta. Crews from Northeastern, Boston University, Radcliffe, MIT and Boston College also competed, while Brown and Dartmouth crews were unable to make the trip due to hazardous driving conditions.

UB fielded six entries in the three races, with the best showing a fourth-place finish by the "A" squad in the novice eight competition. The "A" entry finished in 11:55.7.

Northeastern and Boston University ran away from the field, with the Huskies taking first in 11:13.6, followed by the Terriers in 11:15.2. Radcliffe placed third at 11:31.8, 24, seconds ahead of the fourth-place Bulls.

With the head races completed, the Bulls will start their training for the spring sprint races. UB will head to Miami for winter training in January and Austin, Texas, for spring workouts in March. The Bulls will open the spring competition schedule on April 2 in the same Boston waters against several of the squads that they saw in the Foot of the Charles, including Northeastern, Boston College and MIT, as well as Dartmouth. The following day, the Bulls will race against squads from Harvard and Rhode Island.

Basketball

MEN'S

Battle named to Mid-Major preseason team

Turner Battle has been selected to the preseason Mid-Major All-America team by collegeinsider.com. Battle is the first UB player to receive the honor. He is the Bulls' top returning scorer (14.5 ppg). Along with scoring, the senior point guard led UB in assists (4.1 apg) and steals (1.8 spg) last year.

In addition, the Bulls are ranked 18th in the first collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll—the highest that UB has ever appeared on the Poll.