University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: October 11, 2007

Football

UB 31, Ohio 10

Sophomore tailback James Starks ran for 183 yards and the Bulls' defense forced a pair of key turnovers and limited Ohio to 276 yards of offense in a 31-10 Homecoming Day victory before 10,776 fans on Saturday.

The win was UB's first Homecoming Weekend victory since 1998 and also moved the Bulls to 2-0 against Mid-American Conference East opponents, while improving their overall record to 2-4. Buffalo is 2-1 overall in the MAC. The Bulls sit atop the MAC East standings with the win.

The Bulls never trailed in the game and outscored Ohio 24-3 after the Bobcats tied the game early in the second quarter. Starks' 183 rushing yards were the ninth most in school history and the most by a Bulls' back since the university moved up to Division I-A in 1999. His 36 carries were also a career-high, as were his 201 all-purpose yards.

The Bulls turned to some trickery early and often in the game. Flanker Brett Hamlin completed his first career pass on a double reverse throw to Ernest Jackson for 28 yards. The drive eventually stalled and the Bulls tried a fake, 39-yeard field goal. Kicker A.J. Principe was stopped short of the first down on an option run play.

The Bulls' defense started strong, stopping the Bobcats on their first two possessions and the Bulls got moving again on their third possession. Junior quarterback Drew Willy completed a 27-yard pass to Naaman Roosevelt. Starks' 23-yard run moved the Bulls deep into Ohio territory. The Bulls also converted a fourth-and-one—with Starks blasting for five yards to the Ohio 11. Starks eventually finished the drive with a one-yard leap to cap the 10-play, 79-yard drive—his team-leading eighth touchdown of the season.

The Bobcats responded with a long drive of their own to tie the score with 12:01 remaining in the half.

However, in a half of back-and-forth, UB responded to Ohio's score with another long drive—68 yards in 12 plays that ran more than six minutes off the clock—before retaking the lead. Willy clicked on a 17-yard reception to Roosevelt and an 18-yard catch and run by Starks to move the Bulls down the field. UB also converted a third-and-12 with a 14-yard screen pass from Willy to redshirt freshman Brandon Thermilus to the Ohio one-yard line. Thermilus drove into the endzone on the next play, and after the extra point, the Bulls led 14-7 with 5:45 remaining in the half. That score held up through halftime.

The Bulls forced the first turnover of the game to open the third quarter with an interception by sophomore free safety Mike Newton. Newton returned it 17 yards to the UB 42-yard line.

The Bulls converted the turnover into a career-long, 43-yard field goal by Principe to take a 17-7 lead with 10:48 left in the third quarter.

Ohio countered with a drive that covered 46 yards on nine plays and ended with a 26-yard field goal by Michael Braunstein to cut the lead to 17-10 with 7:11 remaining.

After the Bulls couldn't move the ball, the UB defense came up with a big stop to get the ball back at the UB 41-yard line. UB kept a drive alive with a huge third-and-six conversion from Willy to Roosevelt. Starks added a 15-yard run to the Ohio six-yard line, On a fourth-and-one play, the Bulls were able to push the ball across the goal line on a sneak by Willy to increase the lead to 24-10 with 14:53 left in the game.

Ohio had several more opportunities to cut into the lead, but the Bulls' defense came through time after time.

The Bulls put an exclamation point on the win in the final minutes when Starks burst off left tackle and went 72 yards for his second touchdown of the day and the longest run of his career. The touchdown gave Starks nine on the season, just one short of the Division I-A record by a UB player, set by Aaron Leeper with 10 in 2002, and more than halfway to the school record of 16 by Leeland Jones in 1966.

The Bulls will host Toledo at 1 p.m. Saturday in UB Stadium.

Volleyball

Miami (OH) 3, UB 0
Bowling Green 3, UB 0

UB continued its three-match conference road swing on Friday night, traveling to Miami (OH). The Bulls fell to the host RedHawks, 3-0.

Miami won the match, 30-21, 30-25, 30-23, outhitting UB, .293 to .213. Junior Claudia Neba led the way for the Bulls with 10 kills. Sophomore Kelsey Lueders recorded eights kills, but was extremely efficient on the night and did not record an error in 23 total attempts against the RedHawks. Freshman Lindsey Schlegel added four kills and a match-high 25 assists. Schlegel, who leads the Bulls in service aces, added another two aces in the match.

Defensively, UB was led by a match-high 16 digs from senior Lizaiha Garcia, who also recorded two assists.

The Bulls fell to a hot-hitting Bowling Green team, 3-0, Saturday afternoon. Bowling Green capped off the afternoon by hitting .722 in the third game.

The Falcons took the match, 30-11, 30-19, 30-13, hitting .553 for the day, compared to a .063 hitting percentage for the Bulls. Lueders led the Bulls with six kills, while junior Danielle Cota recorded her first kills in a Bulls uniform. Garcia had a team-high nine digs for UB, while Schlegel had 18 assists on the afternoon.

With a three-match road swing all wrapped up, UB will be at home to host Western Michigan in a 7 p.m. match tomorrow. The Bulls will host Northern Illinois on Saturday.

Soccer

MEN'S

UB 3, Saint Louis 3 (OT)

UB battled to a 3-3 tie on the road against seventh-ranked Saint Louis University on Saturday.

Dan Bulley, Marc Stencel and Dan Stevens each tallied goals for the Bulls.

Saint Louis opened the scoring less than three minutes into the contest on a goal by Kyle Hayes. That was the lone goal of the first half as the Billikens took 1-0 advantage to the intermission.

But as they have been all season long, UB (7-3-2) proved to be a second-half team. The Bulls tied the match in the 57th minute when Bulley found the back of the net off a feed from Dominic. For Bulley, the goal was his team-leading fifth of the season; he now has scored in each of the last three matches for the Bulls.

Saint Louis responded quickly and was able to retake the lead less than a minute later on a penalty kick by Kyle Patterson. Patterson added another goal less than two minutes later and SLU suddenly had a 3-1 lead in the 59th minute.

Despite the two-goal deficit, the Bulls continued to push forward and were rewarded in the 84th minute when Stencel scored his first goal of the season from six yards out off a through ball by Stevens. It looked as though the Stencel tally might just be a consolation until Stevens leveled the match with just eight seconds remaining in regulation, sending the Bulls into overtime for the sixth time in their last nine matches.

Despite outshooting Saint Louis 3-1 in the extra 20 minutes, the Bulls were unable to find a game-winning goal. UB now has scored 14 of its 17 goals this season in either the second half of matches or in overtime.

The Bulls will return to action tomorrow when they travel to Kalamazoo to take on the Broncos of Western Michigan in a MAC contest.

WOMEN'S

UB 2, Western Michigan 2 (OT)

Northern Illinois 2, UB 1

UB fought the Western Michigan Broncos to a 2-2 tie on Friday in Kalamazoo. Junior Brooke McCalla and senior Samantha Roth each scored for the Bulls.

McCalla got UB on the scoreboard first, just 3:45 into the game, as she found the back of the net on a header off of a Katie Fage corner kick. The goal was McCalla's fourth of the year, while the assist was Fage's second.

The Bulls owned the lead for the majority of the first half until the Broncos evened the score with just over five minutes remaining in the first half. Western Michigan struck again at the 51:18 mark to take the 2-1 lead, but Roth sent the game into overtime with six seconds left in regulation. The unassisted goal was the first of Roth's career.

Neither team was able to score in either overtime period.

On Sunday, the Bulls dropped a tough 2-1 match to the Northern Illinois Huskies in DeKalb. The Bulls mounted a late first-half rally, thanks to Junior Andrea Vescio's goal in the 21st minute, but two earlier first-half NIU goals and a scoreless second half prevented the Bulls from taking the victory.

The Bulls will return for a two-game home stand in UB Stadium, beginning with a match against Toledo at 7 p.m. tomorrow. UB will take on Bowling Green at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Tennis

MEN'S

Bulls capture doubles title at UB/Niagara Invite

UB picked up one of four possible titles as the Bulls and Niagara University hosted the UB/Niagara Invitational last weekend. UB scored the "A" flight doubles title on Sunday morning, but faltered in singles play, unable to advance anyone past the semifinals.

In addition to UB and Niagara, teams from St. Francis (Pa.) and Canada's York University comprised the field.

UB's top doubles duo of Nikesh Singh Panthlia and Kirill Kolomytes captured the "A" flight doubles title, scoring three victories over the three-day tournament. Singh Panthlia and Kolomytes scored their doubles win over the Niagara duo of Marc Dickinson and Walter Garcia by an 8-6 margin.

All six Bulls players won their opening singles matches, but just two- Singh Panthlia and Alexis Lluis-reached the semifinals.

The Bulls are next in action at the ITA Regionals in Princeton, N.J., starting Oct. 18.

WOMEN'S

Bulls win five titles at Can Am Invite

UB completed action at the Can-Am Tournament Tuesday, with two Bulls winning titles in two all-UB matches to give the Bulls a total of five titles at the tournament.

In the Flight "A" final, sophomore Denise Harijanto took the title with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over freshman Diana Popescu. The loss for Popescu was her first in a UB uniform as she took home titles in each of the first two tournaments of this season.

In the Flight "B" final, Smaranda Stan defeated Tina Jacob, 6-0, 6-1, continuing her stellar fall season. Jacob had an outstanding tournament as well, teaming with senior Andreea Novaceanu to win the Flight "A" doubles crown in tournament action last weekend. Jacob and Novaceanu defeated Harijanto and Popescu, 8-7 (7-5).

The Bulls swept the doubles competition, with the team of Diana Toia and Janelle Jones-Mitchell taking the "B" flight title in a forfeit by York College.

The Bulls also took the "C" flight singles title, with Jones-Mitchell winning her finals match, 7-5, 6-4.

The Bulls' success during the first three tournaments of this year will be put to the test in the upcoming ITA regionals, to be played next weekend at Old Dominion University. For the first time, UB will send four student-athletes to the regionals in both singles and doubles play.

Novaceanu already has secured a spot in the singles main draw, and will look to be joined by Harijanto and Popescu. Harijanto will have a chance to qualify for the main draw in singles play, while Popescu was named a qualifying alternate. Popescu is guaranteed to play in the ITA, since she is paired with Harijanto in the main draw for doubles play. The doubles team of Novaceanu and Jacob will have a chance to qualify for the main draw in doubles play.

The ITAs will be the final meet of the fall portion of the schedule for the Bulls.

Basketball

WOMEN'S

Heather Turner named to preseason All-MAC team

For the second straight season senior Heather Turner has been named to the preseason All-Mid American Conference East team. Turner is one of three repeat selections from a year ago.

Turner led the Bulls in scoring and rebounds last year for the third straight season and again finished tops in the MAC in field-goal percentage. Following the 2006-07 season, Turner was named an All-MAC honorable mention selection, the third straight year that she was honored by the MAC during the postseason. Turner was named to the third team in 2005-06 and was named the MAC Freshman of the Year during the 2004-05 season.

Crew

Head of the Genesee opens season for rowers

UB's rowing season opened Sunday with a strong performance at the Head of the Genesee Regatta in Rochester.

In the Open 8 race, UB's "A" squad posted a third-place finish, completing the two portions of the race in a combined time of 33:28.62. The time was just three seconds shy of second-place Radcliffe and 15 seconds off the pace set by the winning boat from Cornell. UB's "B" entry finished seventh among the 34 boats in 34:28.27.

In the Open 4 race competition, UB's top entry placed fifth among 13 squads with a combined time of 38:41.24. Cornell won the event in 37:32.64.