Women's soccer loses heartbreaker at home

One mistake is all it takes.

Though dominant for most of the game, the UB women's soccer team was held scoreless and fell apart just before the end, allowing a goal in the final five minutes of regulation, losing 1-0 on Friday night to Niagara University (5-1-1).

Buffalo out-shot Niagara 14-12, but the most important stat of the game was the goal that gave the Purple Eagles the win.

With just over three minutes left to play, Brittany Bisnott of Niagara scored on a breakaway, beating a UB defender to the ball and sliding a shot past senior goaltender Anna-Lesa Calvert. Friday's loss brings the Bulls' record to 2-4-1 with the most threatening competition still to come.

"Our youth is showing," head coach Jean A. Tassy said. "We're not playing disciplined in the task at hand. When we do what we practice, we're fine. We create opportunities and we do well."

There is no doubt that there's a lot of youth in a starting lineup that includes four freshmen and several upperclassmen that had not seen major playing time until this season.

"Our girls played their hearts out, but we need to play smarter," said Tassy. "We need to have a sense of when we have control of the pace of the game and that comes with leadership and with guidance from the upperclassmen."

Friday's loss to Niagara was not the first time the Bulls have suffered a close defeat at the hands of their local rivals. Last season, Niagara beat the Bulls in a similar game, in which the Bulls took more shots but couldn't pull together a win.

"I though we possessed pretty well," said senior midfield-forward Erica Mincher. "Overall we controlled the game. We had a couple of breakdowns and Niagara took those chances and scored. If we can play a full 90 minutes with good possession and in our system, we can be effective."

The crowd of 346 people didn't seem to mind the rain, cheering in support of the teams during the first women's soccer game at UB stadium.

"It was unfortunate that we could dominate for most of the game and one breakaway will lose it for you," said senior aerospace engineering major Kurt Bessel.

Not all was lost for the Bulls in this defensive struggle between the two teams on Friday. Calvert's 11 saves for the Bulls leaves her just 16 shy of becoming only the third goalie in Mid-American Conference history to accumulate 300 saves for a career. Tassy said every defeat should be considered a learning experience.

"Each game you learn and you build upon what you have learned, and that's what we're going to talk about," said Tassy. We play Miami (Ohio) next weekend. We start our conference matches. They're going to come in and they're going to be ready to go."

The bottom line for Tassy is that the Bulls should be winning games like this one. There were five or six chances for the team to build a lead, and instead, Niagara capitalized on the one mistake that Buffalo made.

"I'm a competitor," Tassy said. "I hate to lose, I want to compete. You need to be able to play the game and play it to the fullest and then when you walk off, win or lose, know that you have given it your all. I don't know if some of the girls can say that sometimes."

"The girls' level of commitment to play passionately and play intelligently is key," Tassy said. "My goal is to continue to teach the game so they can get to that point. This is a game we should've had. It's about local pride. A team doesn't come into your house and take a game."

Buffalo will get a second chance to defend its home field when Miami comes to UB Stadium on Friday at 7 p.m. for the first MAC competition for the Bulls.