GRAFTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur soccer Bucs could never get it out of first gear in a 1-0 shutout loss to the homestanding Grafton Bearcats Thursday night in a Big 10 Conference clash.

“Our slow start tonight ended up hurting us throughout the game,” remarked Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Mike Donato. “You could tell by the way our guys played the intent was there and it seemed like we knew what we wanted to do, but we got slowed down by a bad pass, or a poor touch on the ball, or lack of communication, all things within our control. Injuries and other things forced us to shuffle around our lineup, but we have to do a better job of adjusting and making sure our guys are better prepared for these types of situations.”

The lone goal of the game occurred in the 16^th minute of the first half when Layne England was able to dribble past the B-U defense and scored a goal with a shot to the low near post.

Grafton made that lead stand up the rest of the game.

“Grafton is a good team and has always played us tough,” remarked Donato. “They gave us some great scoring opportunities in the second half, and we just couldn’t take advantage.”

The Bucs outshot Grafton by an 8-5 margin but Grafton owned a 2-1 lead in corner kicks.

B-U was guilty of six fouls while Grafton was called for nine.

Dalton Auvil made six stops in net for the Bucs while Bryson Kittle made eight saves for Grafton.

The loss dropped the Bucs to 2-3-2 on the season.

They will return to action Tuesday hosting Liberty at 7:30 p.m.