The women of UB soccer got a taste of close-margin victories on each side of the record column this weekend as they lost a big game on Friday 1-0 in double overtime to Akron and then bounced back with a 1-0 victory on Sunday against Ohio.
Friday's loss took Buffalo (5-11-1, 3-7 Mid-American Conference) out of playoff contention. A fast-paced and hard-fought game from both teams ended abruptly in the 105th minute as Akron (4-10-2 overall, 2-6-1 MAC) attacker Christine Vacha shot a bullet from 20-yards out to beat UB senior goalkeeper Anna Lesa Calvert.
"We did everything but put the ball in the back of the net," said head coach Jean A. Tassy.
MAC soccer works with a point system in which each win is worth three points, a tie is worth one point and a loss is worth no points. At the end of the season the eight teams with the most points in the conference advance to playoff contention.
A win on Friday combined with the win on Sunday would have placed UB one point behind Kent State (7-8-2, 4-4-1 MAC, currently eighth in the playoff race), with the final game of the season against Kent State this following Friday at UB stadium.
"We still continue to learn and we still continue to play," said Tassy. "We haven't given up even though our opportunity to get into a playoff position is eliminated. The team is starting to show character and pride so we have to piggyback, so that can carry it into next year."
Despite losing a playoff birth on Friday, Buffalo put together a win against Ohio (3-13, 1-9 MAC) on Sunday in a wet, cold, possession-based game. Sophomore forward Kelley Vander Mallie scored her first goal of the season and the only goal of the game in the third minute of regulation.
"One of the other girls took a shot and it ricocheted off their defender," Vander Mallie said. "So I sent it in, left foot, to the back of the net."
With a total of seven shots on goal all game between both teams, the rest of the game following Vander Mallie's goal was mostly about Buffalo maintaining possession of the ball and not letting Ohio get any offensive chances.
"Today, we all worked really well together and used the outside flanks really well. It was really a team effort," Vander Mallie said.
The team hopes that Sunday's win can help create some momentum that will carry over to next season, when many of their starters will be returning from injury. Missing the presence of some of the team leaders on the field has had an effect on the communication between the players on the field, according to Tassy.
"The Buffalo area in general does not tend to emphasize communication on the pitch," Tassy said. "If a player goes up for a ball, they have to call it so that two people don't clobber each other and your opponent gets the ball. If I am passing you the ball and you keep running when you should have stopped, I should tell you, 'Hey, next time slow down so I can get you the ball.' That kind of communication has to come from the field and not the sidelines."
In a season with injury and more competition than the UB Bulls are used to seeing, Tassy stressed that there is no room for making excuses as he underlined the positives that can be derived from all bad situations.
"Though the season was full of adversity, I really felt like we did get the best out of all the players that participated," Tassy said. "That is positive because it shows me that we are growing."
The women's soccer team ends its season Friday at home against Kent State. UB goalkeeper Calvert is only four saves shy of having back-to-back 100-save seasons, a feat that has never been accomplished by a UB goalkeeper.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
