GRAFTON – The Buckhannon-Upshur soccer Bucs saw their four-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of the Grafton Bearcats Thursday night on the road in Big 10 Conference action.

The Bucs found themselves down by a 3-0 score before eventually falling by a 3-2 score.

The start time of the game was pushed back almost 30 minutes because of a weather delay in the girl’s game that was played prior to the boys, and then the game was put on pause because of an injury to the Grafton goalie.

“I don’t think the score truly dictates how well we played tonight considering the circumstances,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Mike Donato. “Between weather delaying the start of the game, and a Grafton injury that they were able to rally behind for three quick scores, we were able to keep calm and create quality chances going forward. I give the Grafton players a lot of credit because after their keeper got injured, I wasn’t sure how they would respond. It definitely served as a rallying point for Grafton. But again, our guys were able to overcome and create chances against a stubborn defense that was playing with as many as seven guys packed in front of the goal. Although we didn’t come away with a win, we saw guys pull together and not quit.”

“Grafton raced out to their 3-0 advantage getting a goal from Ethan Weaver in the sixth minute, June Minard in the ninth minute and Landen Hully in the 20^th minute.

The Bucs got on the scoreboard in the 30^th minute when Riel Figueroa found a loose ball in the penalty area and finished with a goal to the far post.

The game remained at 3-1 until Figueroa scored another unassisted goal when he played a long through ball on a free kick that bounced over the Grafton defense, and he found the back of the net with a shot to the far post in the 52^nd minute.

Grafton packed it in the final 28 minutes of the game denying the Bucs the game-tying goal.

B-U held a slim margin in shots-on-goal (10-9) and held a 4-2 advantage in corner kicks.

The Bucs were called for six fouls while Grafton was whistled for four.

Slaton Kowalkoski stopped six shots in net for the Bucs while Tyler Clemm made eight saves for the Bearcats.

Grafton improved to 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the Big 10 Conference.

Buckhannon-Upshur dropped to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big 10 Conference.

The Bucs will return to action Saturday at Princeton in a non-conference clash starting at 12 p.m.