UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO ATHLETICS
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo women’s soccer team (9-4-0, 3-3-0 MAC) returns to the road this weekend for a pair of Mid-American Conference matches against Miami (OH) and Ball State. The Bulls will take on the RedHawks on Friday at 4:00 pm before closing out the weekend against the Cardinals on Sunday at 2:00 pm.
The Bulls are coming off of a tough weekend in which they were defeated by Kent State and fell in overtime to Ohio on Sunday at home, 2-1. Buffalo will look to get back on track this weekend as they currently own a 9-4-0 overall record and a 3-3-0 MAC mark.
Offensively, the Bulls will be leaning heavily on sophomore forward Marcy Barberic who is having a career year up top for UB as she has netted five goals, seven assists and 17 points while taking a team-high 36 shots. Fellow sophomore Kaitlyn Walsh is having a strong campaign so far as she has netted five goals, two assists and 12 points while Gianna Yurchak has netted three goals including goals in back-to-back matches for the Bulls.
Defensively, Buffalo is anchored by Gurjeena Jandu who has not only performed at a high level from her center back position in the defensive third but she has also chipped in with a career year offensively as she has netted two goals and six assists. Freshman Tess Ford has shown steady improvement at the other center back position and has also helped out offensively with three goals and an assist. Rebecca Bramble, Adrianna VanCuyck, Meghan Simmons and Hannah Callaghan have seen major minutes defensively for the Bulls who have secured six clean sheets so far this season.
The Miami (OH) RedHawks enter Friday night’s match against the Bulls with a 3-9-1 overall record and a 1-5-0 MAC mark on the year. The RedHawks are coming off of their most impressive performance of the season on Sunday as they completely dominated Northern Illinois, downing the Huskies 4-0. Miami (OH) is being led offensively by Lyda Bogdanovitch who has netted a team-best five goals and 31 shots while Olivia Winnett has recorded three goals and three assists including a game-winning goal. Freshman midfielder Jordan King has been impressive so far for the RedHawks as she has recorded a team-best four assists so far this season. In goal, the RedHawks have used two goalkeepers as Patricia Koutoulas opened the season as the starter and posted a 1.59 goals-against average while going 2-6-1. Lauren Parker has taken over between the pipes for Miami over the last two and a half games as she owns a 1-2-0 record to go along with a 2.19 goals-against average and one clean sheet.
Ball State enters this weekend with a 7-3-2 overall record and a 3-2-1 MAC mark as they earned a pair of victories last weekend over Northern Illinois and Western Michigan. Offensively, the Cardinals have seen nine different players score at least a goal as Tatiana Mason leads the team with four goals and nine points. Allison Abbe has notched two goals and two assists while Lauren Roll, Amanda Shaw, Jenna Dombrowski, Julia Elvbo and Peighton Cook have each recorded two goals for Ball State. In goal, the Cardinals have relied on Tristin Stuteville all season long and she has responded, posting a 7-3-2 record to go along with a 0.81 goals-against average, a .815 save percentage and three clean sheets.
After this weekend, the Bulls will return home for their final three regular season matches of the season as they will play host to Toledo on Thursday, October 18, Bowling Green on Sunday, October 21 and Akron on Thursday, October 25.
