MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Buckhannon-Upshur High School boys soccer team dropped a 3-0 decision on the road at University on Saturday. The Bucs knew they would have their hands full with the Hawks, particularly forward Joseph Biafora, who has committed to play for WVU next fall.
“We knew going in we’d have a tough task at hand with a high-scoring team in the Hawks and one of the best strikers in the state in Biafora,” B-U head coach Mike Donato said after the game. “I commend our defenders and [goalkeeper] Logan [Kelley] for not surrendering any goals or quality shots to him.”
Kelley tallied an impressive 14 saves in the loss as the Hawks put 17 shots on goal and took 10 corner kicks. The Bucs put the ball on net six times and attempted four corners.
University got a single goal in the first half, a 13th-minute header from Brock Pickett on a corner kick. Pickett scored again on a corner in the second half, and Mason Shockley got the game’s final goal in the 50th minute.
“They’re a quality enough of a team that will take advantage of mistakes, and they did just that on two corner kickers and missed marks,” Donato said.
The loss drops B-U to 6-9-2 with just two rivalry games left to close out the regular season. The Bucs will host Lewis County at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and then head to Elkins on Thursday before turning their attention to post-season play.