University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: September 23, 2004

Football

Nevada 38, UB 13

UB dropped a non-conference game to Nevada, 38-13, in Mackay Stadium on Saturday night. Despite the lopsided final score, the outcome of the contest was in doubt until late in the fourth quarter. In fact, UB trailed by only eight points with less than four minutes remaining in the game. Nevada, a member of the Western Athletic Conference—known for its highly potent offensive teams—rolled up 441 yards of total offense on the Bulls. UB managed 288 yards of total offense, with 183 yards gained on the ground.

Things were going UB's way early in the game as it took a 7-0 lead on an 8-yard touchdown run by Jared Patterson with 3:57 left in the first quarter. The Bulls' score was set up by a botched snap on a Nevada punt attempt that gave UB the ball on the Nevada 38-yard line. UB then used five straight running plays to pound the ball into the end zone.

Nevada tied the game with 7:07 remaining in the second quarter on an impressive 11-play, 95-yard scoring drive capped by a 41-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Rowe to a streaking Nichiren Flowers.

The Rowe-to-Flowers connection struck again with 3:03 left in the first half when Rowe found Flowers for a 51-yard touchdown strike to give the Wolf Pack a 14-7 lead. Nevada held the seven-point advantage at halftime.

On its first drive of the second half, UB cut the Nevada lead to 14-10 on a 28-yard field goal by Michael Baker. The field goal was set up by a 74-yard run by Chris McDuffie—the second-longest run in UB's Division I-A era and the longest of McDuffie's career. The sophomore running back finished the game with a career-best 122 yards on 14 carries.

Baker again connected on a field goal—the longest of his career at 47 yards—with 6:56 left in the third quarter to cut the Nevada lead to 14-13. The Wolf Pack took a 21-13 lead with 2:23 left in the third quarter on a 1-yard plunge by Chance Kretschmer, then iced the game in the fourth quarter with a 13-play, 64-yard drive that resulted in a 19-yard field goal by Damon Fine. That put the Wolf Pack ahead, 24-13.

On the ensuing drive, Randall Secky threw an interception and Nevada capitalized with a 6-yard touchdown run by Rowe to take a 31-13 lead. Secky was intercepted again on the very next drive, giving the Wolf Pack the ball on the UB 22-yard line. Nevada hit paydirt again just two plays later on an 18-yard touchdown run by Drew Robinson.

The Bulls (0-3) will remain on the road on Saturday, facing conference-foe Ohio next in Peden Stadium.

Volleyball

UB 3, Niagara 0
UB 3, Campbell 0
UB 3, North Carolina A&T 0
James Madison 3, UB 2

The Bulls swept local rival Niagara, 3-0, in the Gallagher Center last week. Game scores were 30-22, 30-28 and 30-25. Three players reached double figures in kills to lead the Bulls' offensive attack. Sophomore Nikki Morzenti had a team-high 13 kills while adding nine digs, and junior Katie Weekley and freshman Tammy Julé had 10 kills apiece. Weekley recorded a match-high six blocks, and Julé added seven digs. Junior setter Amy Brown finished the match with 34 assists, six digs and four kills, and freshman libero Lizaiha Garcia had a team-high 10 digs.

UB then went 2-1 at the James Madison Tournament over the weekend. The Bulls began with convincing three-game victories over Campbell (30-19, 30-19, 30-16) and North Carolina A&T (30-20, 30-8, 30-13). But UB fell in the finale to the host Dukes in five games (30-17, 20-30, 23-30, 30-26, 16-14). Brown and Garcia were named to the All-Tournament Team. Brown averaged 8.45 assists, 1.64 digs and 0.73 blocks per game in the three matches. Garcia tallied 37 digs to lead the defense and has topped the Bulls in digs in 10 of 13 matches this season.

The Bulls (7-6) begin Mid-American Conference play next weekend at Western Michigan on Friday and at Eastern Michigan on Saturday.

Soccer

MEN'S

UB 1, Canisius 0
UB 3, Rider 2 (OT)
UB 4, St. Francis (PA) 2

UB remained undefeated on the season with three road victories during the week. The Bulls began by shutting out Canisius, 1-0, on Sept. 15 in the Demske Sports Complex as sophomore goalkeeper Daniel Bell earned his fourth shutout of the season and Jeff Martinko scored the only goal of the game in the 32nd minute of action.

Freshman Lee Catchpole scored his first career goal on a penalty kick in the second overtime period to give the Bulls a 3-2 win at Rider on Friday. Sophomore Andrae Clarke scored his first goal of the season midway through the first half off a pass from Catchpole to put the Bulls on the board first. Sophomore Braden Byler converted a rebound for his team-leading fourth tally of the season at the 73:37 mark, but Rider's Sandro DeCristofaro scored twice in the final 4:07 of regulation to send the game into overtime. Catchpole's penalty kick came 2:56 into the second overtime period to win the game for the Bulls.

Catchpole was the hero again on Sunday as he scored two goals and Clarke added a goal and two assists to lead UB to a 4-2 victory over St. Francis (PA).

The Bulls are now 6-0-1, their best start since the 1990 season when they began the year with nine straight wins and were undefeated in their first 15 games (14-0-1).

WOMEN'S

Eastern Michigan 3, UB 1
UB 3, Central Michigan 0

UB split a pair of home MAC matchups over the weekend, falling to Eastern Michigan, 3-1, before rebounding to shutout Central Michigan, 3-0.

Two goals from Kai Harris in the first 25 minutes helped Eastern Michigan defeat the Bulls on Friday. Harris' first goal came just 3:53 into the match. Harris helped the Eagles to a 2-0 lead 20 minutes later with a shot that blazed into the lower right corner of the goal.

The Bulls answered back in the 31st minute when senior Jenny Dannecker crossed a ball to senior Natalia Crofut, who beat a defender and hoisted the ball into the lower right corner of the goal.

Eastern Michigan responded just 19 seconds later. Kate Nierman added her second assist of the game with a dish out front to Cyndi Mullins. Mullins, in front of the defense, lofted a shot to the upper left corner of the goal from 25 yards out.

On Sunday, senior Lindsay Szafranski notched her first career goal and added an assist as the Bulls knocked off Central Michigan, 3-0.

The Bulls begin a three-week, six-game road trip tomorrow when they travel to Ball State for a MAC game.

Cross Country

UB women win Central Collegiate Invitational; men finish third

For the second straight week, the women's cross-country team placed first in the team standings, taking Saturday's Central Collegiate Invitational. The women scored 75 points in the 11-team field, holding off MAC foes Western Michigan (83) and Akron (87) for the team title. The UB men placed a strong third among eight squads with 88 points, just eight points behind second-place Akron. Central Michigan won the men's meet with 25 points.

UB senior Jenny Koeppel won the individual title with her 17:49 clocking along the 5K course. It was the second straight victory for Koeppel, who also took the Tommy Evans Invitational in Akron on Sept. 11 and earned MAC Women's Runner of the Week.

The Bulls will travel to Bethlehem, Pa., for this weekend's Paul Short Invitational. The meet, hosted by Lehigh University, is a regular fixture on UB's schedule and will give the Bulls the chance of going against another strong field, including several top programs from the Northeast.

Tennis

MEN'S

Bulls post strong results at Dartmouth tournament

UB posted some strong performances in Dartmouth University's Volkl Shootout. There was no team scoring in the tournament, which consisted of singles divided into eight flights based on individual play, while the doubles consisted of four divisions. Teams from Army, Colgate, Niagara and host Dartmouth joined the Bulls in the field.

In singles action, sophomore Mike Rockman scored three singles victories, while Nick Zieziula, Yules Hadisubroto and Matt Kennedy each won two matches.

In doubles play, Josh Liederman and Rockman combined for a 2-2 record in the "B" doubles matches and the duos of Randy Rocchio and Kennedy, and Kennedy and Hadisubroto each picked up a doubles win in the "C" Division.

Due to their strong play over the weekend, the Bulls were invited to the Army Shootout Invitational, which will consist of Columbia, nationally ranked Penn State and host Army, as well as the UB netters. The tournament is slated for Oct. 16 and 17.

WOMEN'S

UB 6, Cleveland State 1

UB's tennis season got off to a strong start with a 6-1 win over Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon at CSU's Malaga Tennis Center.

The Bulls opened the match with a sweep of the three doubles competitions. UB's top combination of Andreea Novaceanu and Tina Jacob rolled to an 8-1 win over Cleveland State's Sarah Galon and Morgan Ungerott. Second doubles duo Kristen Ortman and Miglena Nenova knocked off Jenn Myers and Christine Vogelgesang by an 8-3 score. The Bulls' number three doubles team of Onessa Williams and Katrin Fischer also registered an 8-3 win, defeating Lindsay Sellers and Marcella Capozziello.

UB also took the top five singles matches to complete the afternoon's action. Nenova, last season's MAC Freshman of the Year, took a first-set tiebreaker, 7-5,to dispose of Galon, 7-6, 6-3. At number two, Novaceanu defeated Myers, 6-2, 6-1. Ortman rolled past Ungerott, 6-1, 6-0, at number three. In fourth singles, Fischer had little trouble defeating Rebekah Bicksler, 6-1, 6-1. Jacob knocked off Sellers, 7-5, 6-2, at number five. The lone blemish for the Bulls was at number six, as Vogelgesang defeated Jamie Jackson, 6-4, 6-1.

The Bulls will return to Ohio next weekend for the Bowling Green Invitational.