Bulls Concede Late Goal, Fall at Pittsburgh 1-0 in NCAA Tournament First Round

Saturday, November 12

Pittsburgh, PA

7:00 pm

University at Buffalo

15-2-4, 7-0-4

Pittsburgh

13-4-3, 5-3-2

Buffalo

Pittsburgh

Bulls Concede Late Goal, Fall at Pittsburgh 1-0 in NCAA Tournament First Round

11/12/2022 9:35:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

PITTSBURGH, PA – The University at Buffalo women's soccer team (15-2-4) saw their historic season come to an end on Saturday night as they fell 1-0 at Pittsburgh in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Ambrose Urbanic Field.

The Panthers were the aggressors early on as Samiah Phiri got free and sent a shot on target that rolled just wide and later, got off another shot that was turned away by the UB defense.

The Bulls got going as Leah Wengender got a shot off and later, Jasmine Guerber broke free in the box in the 18^th minute and drilled a shot on net that sailed just wide left.

Pittsburgh had two great scoring opportunities midway through the half, but Kelly made a fantastic save from point blank range to knock the ball away and force a corner kick and then made another great save off the ensuing corner.

Buffalo got the ball in their final third towards the end of the half, recording three kick opportunities but none were able to find the back of the net and the game remained scoreless at the break.

It was a back-and-forth affair for most of the second half. Buffalo had a good look in the 75^th minute as Ellie Simmons played a free kick into the box to the foot of Arianna Zumpano who fired a shot wide left.

Pittsburgh had a chance from point blank range just a couple minutes later, but Sarah Schupansky couldn't convert as her shot sailed off target.

Buffalo came back down in their final third and Guerber and Zumpano had great looks on target but couldn't convert and that would prove to be costly as the Panthers broke through in the 85^th minute as Anna Bout played a ball to Leah Pais who found the back of the net for the deciding goal.

Kelly finished her stellar career with six saves on the night while Caitlyn Lazzarini made four stops for Pittsburgh.

"Tough result and a tough one to stomach tonight because they fought so hard tonight," said head coach Shawn Burke. "We weren't at our best and weren't able to keep the ball, so it made for a lot of defending. There's no quit in this group and they showed why they had such a successful year. These are never easy, but I told them to keep their head up high. It was a magical year but unfortunately all good things come to an end."

Playing in their last match as members of UB were Kelly, Tess Ford, Hannah Callaghan, Abbey Callaghan, Annie Judasz, Taylor Caridi, Cashlin Copley and Jennifer Mandarano. Those players helped this team etch their name in the record books at UB and they will always be remembered.

"They changed it here," said Burke on the graduating class. "We've been to the tournament before, and we've had some success, but we've had some inconsistencies and the one thing that they brought. Look at what they've done the past three years, they've changed the culture and the trajectory of this program. It's college soccer and you bring in new players but those will be tough people to replace."