Sidelines

Rugby

UB's Mad Turtles defeated the UConn Huskies on Saturday by a final score of 14-10. With the victory, the team will advance to the National Rugby Union Final Four. Mike Frist, the Turtles' scoring leader for the season, led the team in scoring with nine points on three penalty kicks.

Buffalo went into the second half down by five, but came back in the second half playing with a completely different mentality. Frist gave the Bulls their first lead with two penalty kicks, and Rob Mercurio scored a touch to put the Bulls ahead for good at 11-5.

Following the victory, UB will move onto the semifinals of the NRU tournament and will face Army, currently ranked sixth in the nation. In the other semifinal match, Dartmouth will face off against Boston College. The matches will take place at the UMass-Amherst campus.

Should the Mad Turtles record another victory, they will go on to the NRU finals and the National Sweet 16.

Men's Soccer

Freshman Lee Catchpole led the Bulls in goals this season with six and in points with 14. Catchpole, having missed the majority of the season with an injury also led the Bulls in penalty shots. In assist category, there was a three-way tie between Jeff Martinko, Brian Knapp and Andrae Clarke, each of whom had three assists on the season. In saves and goals against average the team leader was Daniel Bell, who played in the majority of the games in net for the Bulls. The sophomore goalie recorded 57 saves and a 1.55 GAA. His eight wins tie him at sixth in the single-season Bulls' record-books, and his goals against average has him at 20th in Bulls history.

Athletes of the Week

Lee Catchpole of the men's soccer team and Katie Weekley of the volleyball team were named as the most recent University at Buffalo Athletes of the week.

Catchpole scored all three of the Bulls' goals in the Mid-American Conference tournament, including two in the Bulls' first-round game against Northern Illinois and one in the Bulls' loss to Akron in the semi-finals. Though he was injured for most of the season, Catchpole provided the Bulls with their best chance to make a serious impact in the MAC playoffs, but was unable to get any help on offense in the losing effort against Akron. The victory against Northern Illinois was UB's first win in the MAC playoffs since 2000 and also marked Catchpole's first goal since he was injured earlier in the year.

Weekley had a career-high 18 kills and a match-high 11 blocks in the Bulls' first win since Saturday, Sept. 18. Weekley anchored the Bulls' offense with her 18 kills, and was instrumental in their defense with 11 blocks. Two of those 11 blocks were the blocks that have been credited with turning the momentum in favor of the Bulls. This victory was Buffalo's first MAC victory of the season. The victory also broke a 14-match losing streak for the Bulls. Weekley leads the Bulls this year with 131 total blocks and is currently ranked third in the MAC in the same category.