Last weekend at the Arizona Invitational, the UB women's soccer team fell to the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (1-2) by a score of 3-1 on Friday, and in overtime to the University of California at Irvine Anteaters (2-2) by a score of 2-1.
On Friday against the Knights, the Bulls (0-4) struck first in the 31st minute, as senior Jenny Dannecker netted her first goal of the season, and the Bulls' first goal of the year, off a corner kick by senior first-team All-Conference defender Brenna McJury.
The Knights came right back with a goal of their own five minutes later as Marguerite Ferrell capitalized on a cross-field feed from Chelsea Adams and knotted the game at one goal apiece.
The tie would last for just eight minutes of the second half. Fairleigh Dickinson scored two unassisted goals 82 seconds apart. Tonya Hipsman and Julia Ralph each found the back of the net, and all of a sudden the Bulls were down and out by a score of 3-1.
Sophomore goaltender Jennifer Thompson started her first game of the season, and took the loss in a game where the Bulls were outshot by a 19-15 margin and used 19 players in the game.
"Right now, we need to be tougher," said Coach Jean Tassy. "When you're starting freshmen, they need to be strong, and we need to improve our mental approach."
On Sunday, the Bulls looked to bounce back, but they instead fell in the first overtime to the Anteaters, suffering their second OT loss this week.
With the mercury topping out at 100 degrees, the young Bulls fought back from a 1-0 deficit late in the game, with senior forward/midfielder Jennifer Rounds scoring her first career collegiate goal in the 76th minute, assisted by senior defender Erin Tambs, who also notched her first point of the season.
UC Irvine clinched the win over the Bulls with 3:59 remaining in the first overtime, as the Anteaters' Britney Webster found the twine for the second time this season, firing one past otherwise stellar goalkeeper Anna-Lesa Calvert, who stopped twelve shots in the loss.
The Bulls have been outshot in every game this season, and the match against UC Irvine was no different - this margin was the largest of the season, with Buffalo taking nine shots compared to the Anteaters' 23.
Tassy understands that the Bulls can't hope to be playing at the level they were at the end of last year, because of the difference in the roster.
"When you lose the senior leadership that brought us to the MAC [Tournament] last year, you'll be relying more on your younger players to pick up the slack," Tassy said.
Conversely, Coach Tassy is confident that the Bulls have what it takes to learn to win and to make a dent in the MAC Conference standings this season:
"Losing last year's stars forced us to improve our team's continuity, both on attack and on defense, as we're not relying on one or two players to make things happen all the time for us," Tassy said.
The Bulls open their MAC schedule on Sunday when they travel to Lee Jackson Field to face off against the Akron Zips, to be followed by games against MAC opponents Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, and Ball State. However, the Bulls will play one last non-conference tune-up against local rival Canisius (0-2) on Friday night at RAC field.
Canisius clipped the Bulls in 2003 by the score of 2-1, but Buffalo has won eight of the last nine meetings against the Golden Griffins.
"Our goal is to get progressively better, so that when we're getting into our MAC schedule, we'll be at our best," said Coach Tassy.
