HAMILTON — Colgate fell 1-0 to Buffalo in its season opener Thursday at Beyer-Small '76 Field.
The Bulls pulled ahead in the 55th minute when Leah Wengender found the back of the net off of passes from Olivia Bizzoni and Katie Krohn.
Buffalo controlled possession for much of the first half, and
Alli Popham got tested early but stood strong in goal. The junior made three saves in the first half.
The Raiders backline also held tough, shutting down several scoring chances for the Bulls. UB had five corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes that they could not convert on.
In the 39th minute, the Raiders had a good look but the offside flag went up.
Colgate generated some more attacking chances late in the second half. In the 76th minute,
Ana Schremp ripped a shot, but it went just over the top of the goal.
One minute later,
Julia Lombardo fired a shot toward the bottom left side of the goal that got saved by the goalkeeper.
In the 79th minute, the Raiders got awarded their first corner kick of the game, but they could not generate anything from it.
Popham made a big save in the 88th minute to prevent the Bulls from putting another goal on the board.
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Coach Lyndse Hokanson
"I thought we put a good effort in today against a perennial NCAA-contending team. They gave us some troubles, but overall I felt like our back five and GK put in a really good shift and helped keep us in a place to push for the game. After we conceded, we responded well, and I was proud to see that, but I hope moving forward we're able to punch first. It was a great benchmark game for us, and I'm excited for the opportunity to rebound again at home against another tough team in St. John's on Sunday."
UP NEXT
The Raiders are back home Sunday, welcoming St. John's for a 1 p.m. game.
