March 30, the lacrosse team matched up with a ranked team for the first time this season and left with disastrous results - a 12-3 blowout loss at No. 4 Michigan State (8-2, 4-0 Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association). Despite stronger play on Friday against No. 8 Boston College, the result was the same.
After a heartbreaking 6-5 overtime loss to No. 8 Boston College (7-2, 1-1 Pioneer Collegiate Lacrosse League) Friday night, the men's lacrosse team bounced back with an 8-7 win against Pittsburgh (4-6, 2-2 CCLA) Sunday afternoon.
The Bulls (5-3, 0-1 PCLL) found themselves in a familiar situation on Friday at Kunz Field when they opened up conference play against the Eagles.
After 60 minutes of play, the score remained tied for the fourth time in Buffalo's seven games this season. Despite another standout performance by senior goaltender Bryan Bergstol, who has arguably been the Bulls' backbone this year, according to head coach Ryan Crawford, Buffalo was unable to achieve the victory.
But the Bulls didn't allow Friday's devastation to dictate the outcome Sunday afternoon; the team responded with a 8-7 win over the Panthers.
It wasn't as easy as the team anticipated, though.
After freshman midfielder Mike Austin scored with only one second left in the third quarter, UB led the contest 8-4. But as the fourth quarter wound down, Buffalo found itself ahead by only one with 3:49 left in regulation.
"As a whole, I don't think we played up to the level we played Friday night, despite the victory," Crawford said. "We took a little step back and played down to the level of competition. [The Panthers] are a quality team, but I don't think we should have allowed them to make it as close of a game as it was."
With 12 seconds left, Buffalo cleared the ball down the field. The Panthers goaltender retrieved the ball and made a spectacular 'end to end' pass toward the Bulls' goal.
The ball sailed six inches over the Panther attacker, bouncing into Bergstol's stick.
Three seconds later, the buzzer sounded. Buffalo held onto its fifth win of the season.
"We threw the ball down to other end to kill time," Bergstol said. "Their goalie made a great play, their attack man was wide open, fortunately it bounced over his stick and right over him. I thought even if he caught it, the game was over. But then I caught the ball and saw there was three seconds, we were very fortunate."
The team showed improvement on defense, holding the Eagles to only five goals in regulation after its 12-3 blowout loss to Michigan State. Junior attacker Julien Kann continues to be a threat on offense after scoring two goals on Friday and adding one Sunday, totaling 10 goals and 17 points on the year.
The biggest problem that's plagued Buffalo from the start of the season is the team's inability to put together a 60-minute game.
"We came out flat in the second half [Sunday]," Crawford said. "We need to emphasize how every little play makes a difference. You can't take it easy anytime throughout the game. We did that today and let them crawl back in the game. Hopefully we'll learn from that."
If Buffalo ever needed to follow Crawford's advice, the time is now. The team's next four matches are PCLL matchups.
The Bulls are on the road next weekend and will face off against New Hampshire Friday at 7 p.m., Northeastern Saturday at 6 p.m. and Connecticut Sunday at noon.
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Photo: Paul Hokanson/UB Athletics
