Bulls Split in Minnesota

You know that thin line between winning and losing?

Well, the UB women's soccer team flirted with that thin line and lost. However, the Bulls did come home with a split in what was a very competitive field of talented soccer schools.

The Bulls competed in the highly competitive Minnesota Invitational where they faced Minnesota and Creighton.

Buffalo battled with Big Ten powerhouse Minnesota but came up short in a 4-2 loss. Buffalo was down 2-0 before the Bulls' Shannon Ferriera tallied her first goal of the season near the end of the first half.

UB's Devon Russell also netted her first goal of the year midway through the second half on a penalty shot that tied the score at two.

But Minnesota would score two unanswered goals that gave the Golden Gophers a 4-2 win.

While Buffalo did have a breakdown in the second half, head coach Jean-A Tassy thinks pin-pointing the breakdown on an individual is unjust.

"I don't think it was a breakdown on an individual but more of a team breakdown," said Tassy. "The breakdown came when we had the momentum and we didn't take advantage of the momentum."

While it is still an "L" in the record book, the Bulls came home from this learning experience knowing that this team can compete with the big name schools in the country.

"We walked out of that game knowing that we can play with those type of teams," said Tassy.

In the second game of the tournament, Buffalo bested the Blue Jays of Creighton, 1-0 on Saturday night. Russell netted her second goal of the tournament from 35 yards out early in the second half.

Goalie Anna-Lesa Calvert got her first shutout of the season while stopping what was technically one shot. UB hounded Creighton all night long yielding seven shots with only one shot being recorded as a shot on goal.

"We assessed some of the things that we were not doing as a team and pinpointed three criteria that were really important for the players to concentrate on," said Tassy.

Possession, team defense and the ability to finish were the three things that Tassy stressed to his team prior to the game against Creighton.

It's clear that Tassy is stressing team play and knowing one's role.

"Everybody needs to have a role and once they understand that it doesn't mean that if you're on the bench you won't be on the bench forever," said Tassy. "But the idea is that all the players have a certain responsibility when they are called upon and to step up and make a difference."

Buffalo returns home for their first game of the young season Wednesday night at 7 at RAC Field against Western New York rival Niagara.

Niagara shutout the Bulls last year in a very hard fought game 2-0.

"They beat us last year - if that's not motivation enough I don't know what is," said Tassy.