University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: September 6, 2007

Football

Rutgers 38, Buffalo 3

UB fell in its season opener to 16th ranked Rutgers, 38-3, in Rutgers Stadium on Aug. 30.

The Scarlet Knights threw a balanced offense at the Bulls, with Heisman Trophy-candidate Ray Rice rushing for 184 yards and quarterback Mike Teel throwing for a career-best 328 yards.

The Scarlet Knights started quickly, using a 56-yard return on the opening kickoff to gain possession at UB's 43-yard line. From there, it took just three plays before Rice raced 34 yards for a touchdown to give Rutgers a 7-0 lead just 1:21 into the game.

Despite a productive first quarter by junior quarterback Drew Willy, who connected on five of seven passes for 50 yards, the Bulls could not dent the scoreboard. Flanker Brett Hamlin, back in the lineup after redshirting last season, had three of those catches for 33 yards. However, despite three trips into Rutgers territory, the Bulls could not put any points on the board.

The Scarlet Knights rode a huge first half by Teel to take a 28-0 lead into intermission. Teel completed 12 of 16 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns in the first two quarters of play.

The Bulls played a solid third quarter, twice driving inside the Rutgers 30-yard line before scoring on a 35-yard field goal by freshman kicker A.J. Principe. The Bulls' other deep foray into Rutgers territory ended when Willy's fourth-down pass from the RU 12-yard line fell incomplete.

However, that was as close as the Bulls would get. Rutgers added another touchdown and a field goal to complete the scoring.

Willy finished the game completing 19 of 32 passes for 165 yards without an interception. The Bulls' running game was led by sophomore Mario Henry, who had eight carries for 49 yards (6.1 per carry) in his first action at tailback.

Defensively, senior linebacker Kareem Byrom and junior college transfer Adekunle Akingba each racked up 10 tackles. Byrom also had a forced fumble and a tackle for loss.

UB will travel to Philadelphia this weekend for a matchup with Temple, the newest team in the Mid-American Conference.

In other football news, former UB player Ramon Guzman made it through the last round of cuts this past weekend to make the 53-man roster of the Indianapolis Colts, the defending Super Bowl champions.

The other former UB player in training camp, Chad Upshaw, was waived by the Carolina Panthers during final cuts. The Panthers later signed Upshaw to their practice squad.

Volleyball

Syracuse 3, UB 0
Valparaiso 3, UB 0
UB 3, South Florida 2
West Virginia 3, UB 0
Albany 3, UB 1

UB struggled on its trip to Syracuse last week, falling to the host Orange, 3-0, on Aug. 28. Twelve different players saw action, but the youthful Bulls were unable to come away with the victory.

Syracuse took the match 30-18, 30-24, 30-21 and outhit the Bulls .267 to .000. UB had its best chance for victory in the second game, but was unable to hold on to a lead. Head coach Jim Lodes tweaked his rotation for the second game, as well as the third.

The Bulls returned home for the first match of the Western New York Invitational, but lost to the Valparaiso Crusaders, 3-0, Friday evening in Alumni Arena. Valparaiso took the match, 30-26, 30-19, 30-17.

UB and Valparaiso exchanged the lead for much of the first game before the Crusaders prevailed and never looked back in the match.

The Bulls split their two matches against Big East competition as the Western New York Invitational continued on Saturday, defeating South Florida in a 3-2 thriller, but falling to West Virginia on Saturday night, 3-0. The two matches were exciting: UB fought from behind against the USF Bulls to win the match in five games, and senior Lizaiha Garcia set a new school record for career digs in the nightcap.

Garcia, who entered the day 28 digs shy of breaking the record, got off to a great start in the afternoon match with 22 digs to help UB defeat South Florida, 28-30, 30-23, 25-30, 31-29, 15-8. Down 29-27 in the fourth game, UB fought back to score the final four points of the game and force a game five. UB scored the first three points of game five and six of the first nine. After taking a 10-8 advantage in the game, the Bulls scored the final five points, with four of those coming off Garcia serves.

In the evening contest, UB fell to a West Virginia team that had defeated Albany earlier in the day. WVU defeated the Bulls 30-24, 30-21, 30-18 to improve to 4-1 on the season. The story of the match for UB was Garcia, who broke a 16-year-old school record by recording 11 digs against the Mountaineers to surpass Ann Reed's school record of 1,525 career digs.

On Sunday, the Bulls took the first game in a match against Albany, but were unable to ride the momentum, eventually falling, 3-1, in the final match of the Western New York Invitational.

Albany won the match, 27-30, 30-23, 30-20, 30-10 and outhit the Bulls .399 to .156,

Following the match, Garcia was named to the all-tournament team.

Soccer

MEN'S

Fairfield 1, UB 0
Fairleigh Dickinson 2, UB 0

UB dropped a hard-fought, 1-0 decision to Fairfield to open the season at the St. John's Nike Classic. Sam Bailey scored the game's lone goal in the 70th minute to give the Stags the victory.

Sophomore goalkeeper Robert Shuttleworth started and played the full 90 minutes in goal for the Bulls, making two saves. The match was a tight affair that featured just 14 total shots—seven for each team—and just six corner kicks, with Fairfield holding the corner edge 4-2. There were also six yellow cards handed out during the match, including a double-yellow card ejection in the 89th minute to UB's Steffen Thoresen.

The Bulls dropped a 2-0 decision to Fairleigh Dickinson University Sunday night to conclude play in the St. John's tournament.

Senior goalkeeper Daniel Bell, who was granted a fifth-year of eligibility by the NCAA, was in goal for the Bulls and made three saves. The

Bulls managed just two shots on goal during the contest.

WOMEN'S

Niagara 4, UB 3
UB 1, Canisius 1

UB narrowly lost its season opener to Big 4 rival Niagara on Friday night in UB Stadium, falling to the Purple Eagles, 4-3.

Despite the setback, Buffalo received solid contributions from many of its players, including freshman Lindsey Bailey, who notched the first goal of the game and the first of her collegiate career at 17:53 when she collected a pass from Heidi Griffiths and Nikki Wilson and blazed by a Niagara defender.

Niagara evened the score just before the half, then extended its lead in the second half by putting two more goals on the board to take a 3-1 advantage.

With just over 18 minutes left to play, the Bulls mounted offensive pressure, sparked by junior attack Andrea Vescio. Vescio, last season's leading goal scorer, scored her first goal of 2007 when she fired a shot from the top of the box past Niagara keeper Sarah Stephens. Vescio's goal was assisted by junior Brooke McCalla and senior Ashley Turner. Three minutes later, UB evened the score when Griffiths scored from the top of the box on a pass from Christina Olsen.

Shortly after the Bulls' comeback, Niagara struck again with the eventual game winner in the 77th minute.

On Sunday, after 110 minutes of hard-fought soccer, the Bulls walked away with a 1-1 tie against cross-city rival Canisius in a nonleague match at the Demske Sports Complex.

The Bulls got on the scoreboard early in the game with a goal by Griffiths in the 28th minute on a pass from Bailey. Despite holding the lead through much of the contest, Canisius mounted a comeback in the 79th minute when Amanda Janosky evened the game, 1-1.

The Bulls will return to action tomorrow with a 1 p.m. game against the Binghamton Bearcats at the Niagara Tournament.