October 8, 1998-Vol30n07: Sports

VOLUME 30, NUMBER 7

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1998

Football

UB 31, Cornell 34
The Bulls dug themselves a 31-10 hole Saturday and then nearly climbed out of it before falling to Cornell, 34-31, at Schoelkopf Field.

The Bulls rallied behind the legs of running backs Derrick Gordon and Josh Roth, as well as a spectacular performance by junior flanker Drew Haddad.

Gordon rushed for a career-high 121 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown and Roth had a career-high 89 yards on 15 carries with a score. Haddad, meanwhile, had a career-high 12 catches for 137 yards and a touchdown. His school-record 94-yard punt return with 1:03 to play pulled UB to within 34-31.

After a failed onside kick attempt, the Bulls held Cornell to

-2 yards on three plays to get the ball back with 30 seconds remaining. After a 21-yard pass to Haddad, the Bulls' last-ditch effort ended at the gun as quarterback Chad Salisbury was intercepted on a "Hail Mary" attempt. Salisbury finished the game 21-of-42 for 224 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.

Cornell took advantage of both Salisbury's miscues to score a pair of touchdowns. Trailing 7-3 in the second quarter, Nate Fischer stepped in front of a Salisbury pass and returned it 61 yards to the UB 26.

Trailing 17-3, the Bulls bounced back on a 13-yard TD strike from Salisbury to Haddad with 1:32 left. However, the Big Red came back to regain a two-touchdown advantage before half-time on a 65-yard drive in five plays.

The Bulls fell behind, 31-10 on an 8-yard pass from Mike Hood to Joe Splendorio with 3:57 left in the third quarter before mounting their comeback. Gordon cut the lead to 31-17 when he scored from four yards out with 12:56 left.

Roth, meanwhile, capped a 13-play, 87-yard drive with a four-yard burst for his eighth touchdown of the season to cut the Cornell lead to 31-24 with 3:36 left. Haddad then electrified the crowd with his school-record return before the Bulls ran out of time.

The Bulls rolled up 444 yards of total offense on the day, while the Big Red had 439. The UB defense was paced by freshman linebacker Brandon Jordan, who had a career-high 13 stops. Senior Antonio Perry added 11 tackles and a forced fumble.

Volleyball

UB 0, Bowling Green 3
UB 1, Akron 3
The women's volleyball team dropped two matches on the road this week, one against Bowling Green (15-7, 15-8, 15-11) and the other at Akron (16-14, 15-10, 11-15, 15-11).

In Saturday's match with Akron, freshman outside hitter Keri Shiels tied UB's record for most individual digs in a match with 30. The team broke the school record for most digs in a match with 122. The squad also tied the Buffalo record for most kills in a match (70) and broke the Bulls mark for most digs in a match (122).

Freshman middle hitter Heather Barfuss had 11 kills in the loss against Bowling Green on Oct. 2.

Soccer Women's

UB 0, Northern Illinois 2
The women's soccer team was blanked, 2-0, by host Northern Illinois in a Mid-American Conference match on Oct. 1. Freshman goalkeeper Jaime Adams made 11 stops in the loss.

Cross Country

The men's and women's cross country teams participated in the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 2. The women placed 15th (385 points) out of 23 squads. Freshman Lisa Luce was Coach Dick Barry's top finisher (67th, 18:24). Sophomore Eileen Rose followed closely and came in 69th with a time of 18:28.

The men's squad accumulated 197 points for a ninth-place finish out of a field of 16 teams. Junior Patrick Nolan and sophomore Tony David finished fifth (24:34) and ninth (24:48), respectively, out of an impressive pack of 126 runners.

Athlete of the week

Junior forward Steve Butcher led the men's soccer team to a 4-3 victory over host Canisius with three goals, including the game-winner, and one assist. He also found the back of the net as Coach Tassy's squad shut out host Adelphi, 2-0. Butcher now has a team-high 10 goals in nine games.

During this week's volleyball matches, freshman middlehitter Heather Barfuss led Coach Bob Maxwell's team's offense by totaling 63 kills and 10 assists in 19 games. Barfuss helped the Bulls to an overall record of 3-2 for the week.