University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: September 27, 2007

Football

Baylor 34, UB 21

Plagued by turnovers, UB fell to Baylor, 34-21, in front of a paid attendance of 22,676 in UB Stadium on Saturday night. UB had a season-high five turnovers, three of which were converted into 13 Baylor points.

Baylor, which came into the game averaging 335 yards passing and only 59 yards rushing per game, caught the Bulls off guard by rushing 42 times for 229 yards. The Bears only passed for 172 yards.

The Bulls were led by James Starks, who scored all three of UB's touchdowns. The sophomore running back had a pair of touchdown runs and a touchdown catch. He finished the night with 95 yards of total offense.

The Bears scored the first points of the game after capitalizing on the first of three Drew Willy interceptions at the UB 20-yard line. UB was able to hold Baylor to minus-5 yards on the drive, but a 43-yard field goal put Baylor up, 3-0, with 43 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Another UB turnover gave the ball back to Baylor, which scored the first touchdown of the evening, a four-yard pass from Blake Szymanski to Justin Akers, to put Baylor up 10-0 with 11:44 remaining in the second quarter.

The UB special teams unit came through in the second quarter as Baylor punter Derek Epperson was unable to get a punt off and was stopped by sophomore Alex Pierre, giving UB the ball back at the Baylor 24-yard line. Starks took over with a 15-yard rush, followed by a seven-yard reception, to put the ball at the one-yard line. Starks completed the drive with a run up the middle for the touchdown with 3:13 left in the half. The Bulls went into the locker room trailing, 10-7.

Baylor opened the second half on an 11-play, 85-yard drive that ended in a touchdown to extend its lead to 17-7 with 10:01 left in the third quarter.

Following a three-and-out by UB, Ben Woods boomed a 56-yard punt, but Joe Bennett returned it 43 yards to the Bulls' 22-yard line. Five plays later, Szymanski found Brandon Whitaker for a two-yard reception to put the Bears ahead, 24-7.

Following a Baylor field goal that made the score 27-7, Willy found Starks for a 10-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 27-14 with 13:14 left in the game.

The two teams traded touchdowns late in the fourth quarter-Baylor extended its lead with a 39-yard Szymanski run and Starks scored his third touchdown to make the score 34-21 with 1:21 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Bulls refused go down quietly as Woods came on for the onside kick, which was recovered by UB's Naaman Roosevelt at the Baylor 38-yard line. However, the game ended with a Willy interception.

Willy finished the night going 29-for-46 for 276 yards, with a touchdown and three interceptions. His favorite target was Roosevelt, who had six catches for 79 yards. Hamlin added five grabs for 50 yards.

Defensively, the Bulls were led by Larry Hutchinson, who had a career-high 11 tackles, including eight solo stops and two for a loss. Adekunle Akingba added 10 tackles and a forced fumble. Trevor Scott had two sacks to bring his season total to 4.5. He also had five solo stops.

The Bulls will travel to Muncie, Ind., to take on Ball State in a MAC match-up on Saturday.

Volleyball

Ohio 3, UB 0
Kent State 3, UB 0

UB met nationally ranked Ohio on Friday as the Bobcats came into Alumni Arena and defeated the Bulls, 3-0, in the Mid-American Conference opener for both schools.

The 19th-ranked Bobcats defeated the Bulls, 30-19, 30-18, 30-22, hitting .408 for the match, compared to a .120 hitting percentage for the Bulls.

The Bulls fell to Kent State, 3-0, in a Saturday afternoon match in Alumni Arena. Both teams hit the ball extremely well in game one, but the Golden Flashes edged the Bulls for the victory.

Kent State took the match, 30-22, 30-17, 30-17, hitting .374 as opposed to .138 for the Bulls.

The Bulls will continue conference play today as they host Akron at 7 p.m. The match will be televised by Time Warner 13 on tape delay, with airings at 3 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday and 8 p.m Monday.

Soccer

MEN'S

UB 2, Bucknell 2 (2 OT)
Detroit 1, UB 0

UB earned a 2-2 tie at Bucknell Friday evening to extend its unbeaten streak to six matches.

Alex Marrello opened the scoring just 41 seconds into the second half and Dan Bulley's goal tied the match in the 85th minute to account for the two UB goals.

After a scoreless first half, Marrello became the first multi-goal scorer of the year for the Bulls when he scored within the first minute of the second half. Martin John began the play with a pass to Dominic Oppong, who touched the ball to Marrello who fired a rocket past the Bison goalkeeper to give UB a 1-0 lead.

Bucknell evened the match at 1-1 when Conor O'Brien scored on a free kick in the 72nd minute. He gave Bucknell the lead in the 81th minute when he scored on a header from Mark Schmiegel. With just less than six minutes remaining, the Bulls evened the match with Bulley's score off a feed from Dezi Lara. For Bulley, the goal was his second of the season, tying him with Marrello for the team lead.

For the fourth time in their last five matches, the Bulls went into overtime. UB earned two corner kicks during the additional 20 minutes, but was unable to find a game-winner. Robert Shuttleworth made five saves, including one in overtime, while the Bulls forced Bucknell goalkeeper Joey Kuterbach into making four stops.

The Bulls saw their six-match unbeaten streak come to an end Sunday, losing at Detroit, 1-0. Daniel Bell made six saves for the Bulls.

After a scoreless first half, Detroit scored in the 64th minute. The Titans were able to hold the Bulls (5-3-1) scoreless the remainder of the match to hold on for the 1-0 victory.

The Bulls will begin MAC play this weekend when they host Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Friday in UB Stadium. UB will face nonconference opponent Duquesne Sunday in Pittsburgh.

WOMEN'S

George Washington 2, UB 1 (OT)
UB 2, Howard 0

UB took on the George Washington Friday in Washington, D.C., suffering a 2-1, double-overtime loss to the Colonials. Andrea Vescio scored UB's Goal; goalkeeper Amy Coron had six saves.

The Colonials got on the scoreboard first when Kerry Philbin headed in a corner kick from Lauren Kelly at the 37th minute. The Bulls battled back, however, as Vescio earned a penalty kick in the 40th minute. She missed the kick, but snagged her own rebound and chipped the ball into the right corner to knot the contest at 1-1.

Neither team scored in the second half or during the first overtime period. It wasn't until two minutes into the second overtime that Keara Mehlert netted the game winner for George Washington, a hard shot from inside the box just over Coron's right shoulder.

Playing in its last nonconference game of the season, the Bulls posted a 2-0 victory over the Howard Lady Bison on Sunday in Washington.

UB was led by Heidi Griffiths, who scored her team-leading fourth goal of the season. Caitlin Higgins scored her first goal of the season, while Coron netted her first shutout of the season.

The Bulls got out to a quick start, getting on the scoreboard when Griffiths took the ball down the middle and scored unassisted in the 14th minute of the match. Higgins extended Buffalo's lead at the 33:36 mark, collecting a pass from Brooke McCalla and firing a shot into the right side of the net.

UB will begin MAC action on the road, beginning Friday at Akron and Sunday at Ohio.

Cross Country

Men claim Stampede title; women finish second

The UB men's cross-country team won the UB Stampede

Invitational team title on Saturday, the men's and women's teams'

lone home meet of the season. The UB men scored 22 points to hold off second-place Colgate's 36 to take the team title. The UB women finished second to Colgate, scoring 38 points to the Raiders' 23.

Senior Dan Giza won the men's overall individual race with a time of 26:14.6 for the 8K course at Beaver Island State Park on Grand Island. Giza moved past second-place finisher Lyle Tolli of Colgate (26:25.5) at the two-mile mark and held the lead for the remainder of the race, winning by more than 10 seconds.

The Bulls claimed six of the top-eight spots to clinch the team title. Jason Ayr took third place in 26:37.4, freshman Ryan Bloom finished fifth in 26:56.7, Dan Healy was sixth in 27:05.6, Jesse Mang was seventh in 27:08.9 and Jacob Hagen rounded out the scoring with his eighth-place finish in 27:12.7.

In the women's 5K race, junior Mary Veith completed the course in 18:39.6, winning the race by more than 20 seconds over Colgate's Stacey Marion, who finished third overall in 19:00.6. Veith moved ahead of unattached runner Allison Carr about halfway through the race and increased her margin over the final distance.

Joining Veith among the UB scorers was sophomore Nicole Soblosky in fifth place in 19:27.6 and freshman Megan Niblock, who was 15th overall in 20:34.9.

The Bulls will travel to Bethlehem, Pa., tomorrow for the Paul Short Invitational.

Tennis

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Bulls open season at Dartmouth Volkl Invitational

UB opened the 2007-08 season with play at the Dartmouth Volkl Invitational over the weekend. There was no team scoring for singles or doubles in the flighted tournament brackets. In all, the Bulls won eight of their 18 singles matches, while the doubles duos took four victories in nine contests.

Senior Nikesh Singh Panthlia, one of just three players on the squad this season with Division I experience, started the tournament a little rusty, but rallied to take two wins in his three singles matches. Singh Panthlia, who led the Bulls with a 20-13 singles record in 2006-07, dropped his opening round match of the B Flight in straight sets to Dartmouth's Justin Tzou on Friday. On Saturday, he scored a three-set victory over Army's Jordan Girdley after dropping the opening set. Singh Panthlia completed the weekend with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Niagara's Alex Abji. Singh Panthlia also combined with sophomore Kirill Kolomytes to form the top doubles team for the Bulls. The pair went 2-1 over the weekend after an opening round loss to Amherst. The UB duo went on to score an 8-0 whitewashing of an Army team in their second match and closed out play with an 8-6 win against Rhode Island.

The UB roster features three new players to the program, including a pair of freshmen and a transfer from the Division II ranks. In Friday's action, UB picked up singles wins from freshman Marcelo Mazzetto in the C Flight and junior Alexis Lluis in the D Flight, both in three-set battles. Although dropping his opening match on Friday, freshman Ezra Bernstein rallied for wins on Saturday and Sunday to lead the newcomers with two singles victories. In Sunday's F Flight finale, Bernstein needed to go to a super-tiebreaker with Niagara's Nick Bollea for the victory. After winning the opening set, 7-5, Bernstein fell in a second-set tiebreaker to set up the super-tiebreaker, which he went on to win, 10-8, to seal the match.

In their next action, the Bulls will host the UB/Niagara Invitational starting on Oct. 5. The Bulls will play host at the University Tennis Center on Friday and Saturday; play will shift to Niagara's home court for Sunday's final matches.