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They're not at full speed yet, but Women's Soccer bounced back from their opening night loss with a vintage showing (for the most part) on a hot Philadelphia afternoon in a 1-0 win over Drexel.
Buffalo took the lead late in first half on a long-range shot from Angel Hart that landed just inside the post from 25 yards. Hart was just close enough to goal and central enough that when defenders sagged off her she was able to step up into spacewith time to place her shot.
The visitors had a few more dangerous chances in the stanza and weren't perfect by any means, but in general brought sounder decision making and more precise defense than against St. Joseph's while dictating play much in the style of the 2014 team.
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Hart was one of a good number of Bulls who put forward more impressive individual performances than the shaky Friday evening loss. Alongside her in the defense Jackie Hall seems more confident than last year while freshman Bri Shingary put together a full game of solid work at fullback. Further up the formation, Dana Lytle looked comfortable and creative in the center of the midfield.
UB once again came out of the break looking dangerous, and had a handful of quality chances just miss, but the story of the second half was Drexel's slowly building pressure and UB's fading legs in the midfield that let the Dragons advance into the attacking third relatively unchecked.
The home team could never convert, sometimes due to strong individual defensive plays, and sometimes due to miscues of their own. The end result of the porous midfield and Drexel pressure was an up and down final fifteen minutes that saw each team narrowly miss chances to equalizer or extend the lead.
Looking to the lineup, the hot day necessitated a full bench's worth of subs. Freshmen Rebecca Bramble and Nicole Gerritz once again impressed, while Alex Lambert also looked dangerous. Freshman Meghan Simmons and N'DEA JOHNSON! made their first appearances of the season, and junior Ashley Evans played important minutes with fresher legs in the second half.
UB (1-1) returns to Buffalo, though not to UB Stadium, next weekend to take on Canisius on Main Street Sunday at noon, and St. Bonaventure in Olean on Tuesday. The Bulls shut out each team in a pair of home wins in 2014.