On a weekend swing through Michigan, the UB women's soccer team fell to the Eastern Michigan Eagles 3-1 Friday evening at RAC Field. This dropped UB to 2-5 overall and 1-1 in Mid-American Conference play. But the Bulls came back with a shutout victory over Central Michigan Sunday.
The Bulls allowed the Eagles' players to dig in early, particularly junior Kai Harris. Harris doubled-up, scoring two goals in the first 25 minutes of the game. Her first goal came only 3:25 into the match, assisted by Libby Nierman and Jessica Hupe. Harris' 20-yard shot into the upper right corner of the net hardly gave Bulls fans enough time to get comfortable.
Twenty minutes later, Nierman hooked up with Harris once again. Nierman provided Harris with a good set up near the net, and Harris was able to find the bottom right corner of the net for her second goal.
Buffalo got on the board in the 31st minute with a goal by Senior Natailia Crofut, assisted by a cross pass from Jenny Dannecker, giving the Bulls something to get excited about. However, Buffalo found themselves hanging their heads only 19 seconds later as they gave up another goal, this time to Cindi Mullins. Libby Nierman found herself in the right place at the right time, getting her third assist of the game.
The Eagles ended the first half up 3-0 over a confused and frustrated UB team - a team in need of serious second half adjustments. The defense shined through in the second half as Buffalo held Eastern Michigan to only eight shots, and Eagles leading scorer Jessica Hupe to zero on the contest. The Bulls offense never took hold, as they finished the game with only that one goal.
UB was out shot 18-14 for the match, and held a 14-7 advantage in fouls. UB senior Anna-Lesa Calvert stopped 8 shots on net, while Eastern Michigan's Nikki Allen stopped six, including a shot which hit the cross bar from Bulls freshman Kathleen Fage.
Bulls Exact Revenge on Chippewas
After being shutout by Central Michigan last year, UB returned the favor yesterday at RAC Field.
The Bulls (3-5, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) shut out the Chippewas (3-4-1, 1-1-1 MAC) by a final score of 3-0.
Buffalo spent the beginning part of this season scoring only two goals over their first four games, but have scored 10 over the last four.
With head coach Jean Tassy absent from the game for personal reasons, Assistant Coach Kristine Eckert led the Bulls onto the field.
"We were attacking with numbers up, we were exploiting their weaknesses which is our strength, hitting the flank, and getting a lot of runners up," Eckert said.
Lindsay Szafranski, Kathleen Fage, and Natalia Crofut scored UB's goals. Crofut notched her second goal in as many games, and was the Bulls' most impressive performer on the offensive side.
On the defensive side, Anna-Lesa Calvert has been playing well of late, and this game was no exception. She made eight saves en route to her third shutout of the season.
"She's our last line of defense and our first line of offense, and she was able to get everything that our defensive line couldn't stop," Assistant Coach Eckert said.
While Calvert was the anchor of the defense, the team as a unit played extremely well against Central Michigan's attack.
"We didn't allow crosses in front of the net, we didn't allow shots to be taken outside the 18," Eckert said.
The defensive effort made Calvert's job much easier. Even though it may not seem so on the stat-sheet, the eight shots that the Bulls gave up weren't exactly on big scoring chances.
Central Michigan only had one real scoring opportunity for the entire game, and it came in the second half. Calvert went out of the box to go after a Chippewa shot that she deflected to another player, who took too long to get her shot off. When the shot was taken, Brenna McJury was there to make an amazing save and clear the ball.
Aside from the one scoring chance that the Chippewas had, the Bulls were never really in trouble over the course of the game. They controlled the pace, and never let the Chippewas get off the ground.
"We really set the tone out there," Eckert said.
Before the Bulls began their goal-scoring bonanza, it appeared that the team lacked a finisher. They were without someone who could get to the end of a drive, and put the ball in the back of the net. It's a possibility that they have found that finisher in either Natalia Crofut or Jenny Dannecker. Dannecker tacked on another assist in today's game, and Crofut was able to score goals in both Friday's and today's game.
"We were creating havoc, and creating havoc makes holes for our offense, and when there are holes for our offense, we can get to the net," Assistant Coach Eckert said.
The Bulls' next challenge will be Friday, Sept. 24 against Ball State, but they won't be returning to RAC Field until Friday, Oct. 15, when they will face off against another MAC rival, Toledo.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
