Campus Watch

--UB didn't have any live special teams play during Saturday's annual Blue & White Game but senior Branden Oliver, the Bulls top tailback, fielded punts.

The 5-foot-8, 202-pound Oliver will field punts next season in part to jump start the return game, but also to enhance his pro prospects. No returns took place and all punts were fair-caught as Oliver and Devin Campbell took turns fielding punts for both teams.

A windy, cold afternoon at UB Stadium was a good time to break Oliver in as a returner. In the second quarter Oliver, the Blue team tailback, fumbled a punt as part of the White team, giving the Blue team great field position and eventually led to the first touchdown of the game.

"It wasn't on purpose and I didn't know it was going to happen like that," Oliver said, laughing. "To the tell you the truth, I have to get used to the wind up here, this is my first year doing it so I have to get used to that."

Kicker Patrick Clarke connected on 2 of 3 field goals. After missing a 41-yarder in teh second quarter, he was good from 20 and 28 yards in the fourth. Punter Tyler Grassman, who punted for both teams, averaged 42.6 yards on 14 punts, including a game-long 60-yarder. Brian Orzechowski, a junior from Lockport, punted three times for an average of 39.5 yards.

---The defense showed flashes of what could potentially be one of the best defenses in the Mid-American Conference.

The Blue team, which featured most of the first team starting offense, led 7-0 at the half and to just 320 yards of total offense for the game. For Khalil Mack, one of the leaders on the White team, it wasn't good enough.

"I can't say that I'm happy, you can't be satisfied playing this game and you always want to get better," said Mack, who finished with three tackles, a forced fumble and a hurry. "There are certain things that we can improve on but we did a solid job as a group."

White safety Adam Redden (St. Francis) led both teams in tackles with 6.5 and a tackle for a loss, while linemen Dalton Barksdale and Max Perisse paced the Blue team with four tackles. Linebacker John Aubel finished with two sacks and Beau Bachtelle one. Aubel, Bachtelle, Redden, Khalil Mack, Jake Stockman and Kendal Patterson each had tackles for losses. White team was credited with four breakups while Blue recorded three.
"They really came out with something to prove and I really enjoyed watching the way they handled themselves on the field," Quinn said. "They pursued to the ball very well and wrapped up well. I was really pleased with that side of the football in the first half.

---Sophomore Tony Daniel and redshirt freshman Collin Michael will battled it out for the third spot at quarterback behind Joe Licata and Alex Zordich and both struggled on Saturday.

Daniel was 3 of 12 for 22 yards while Michael was 2 of 6 for 17 yards. Both were sacked twice.

---Quinn said the team will forgo the rotating captain system in favor of returning to four captains for the 2013 season. The players will determined before the start of the season. The captains on Saturday for the Blue team were Oliver, Fred Lee, Jasen Carlsen and Alex Neutz and for the White were Mack, Colby Wa, Beau Bachtelle and Najja Johnson.

---Way, a senior defensive end, was named the 1958 Lambert Cup Team Scholarship Award winner at Saturday morning's Champions Breakfast. ... Alex Dennison, Andre Davis, Jake Pickett, John Kling, Ron Willoughby, Albert McCoy and James Potts all sat out the spring game because of injuries. ... Players report for training camp Aug. 4 and open the season at Ohio State Aug. 31.

---Rodney McKissic

---Spring practice comes to close Saturday at UB with the annual Blue and White game and for the first time in recent memory, the team will be divided for a full scrimmage.

In the past, largely because of a lack of depth, the format was offense vs. defense with a complex scoring system. But the balance in the recruiting classes under fourth-year coach Jeff Quinn have afforded the Bulls an opportunity to split the team evenly.

"I know the kids are really excited about it because it's more realistic in terms of game-like situations," Quinn said Friday. "This is the right way to do it. If I could have done in the previous years I would have, but our recruited hadn't caught up with the balance over the last couple of years."

There won't be live special teams play when the game begins at 2 p.m. at UB Stadium. The Bulls are a bit thin at the line on both sides of the ball, but that will allow some underclassmen to play more snaps.

"We have to play smart, we're a football team that's competed in 14 practices and done an outstanding job understanding the tempo and understand how to protect one another but still play full speed," Quinn said.

---Rodney McKissic

by Amy Moritz

Canisius College Hall of Famer Gina Castelli is back in the head coaching game.

Le Moyne College named Castelli their women's basketball coach today. She spent this past season as the Director of Player Development at Rhode Island after she spent 22 seasons as the head coach for Siena. After the 2011-12 season, Siena and Castelli had reached a "mutual decision" to part ways.

Castelli is the winningest coach in Siena basketball history with a 336-296 record (.532). She went 225-146 in the MAAC for the third-most wins in conference history. She was the MAAC Coach of the Year five times (1991, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002) and led the Saints to seven regular season conference titles and one MAAC tournament championship in 2001.

A 1986 graduated of Canisius, her 1,524 career points ranks fifth in program history while her 578 assists and 273 steals rank third. She was induced into the Golden Griffins' Hall of Fame in 1997.

She takes over a Le Moyne program which finished this past season at 6-20 overall and 4-18 in the Northeast-10 Conference.

by Amy Moritz

USA Synchro, the organization that serves as the national governing body for synchronized swimming in the United States, released a statement about the recent decision of Canisius College to move the sport from varsity to club status for next season:

"We at USA Synchro are heartbroken to learn that Canisius College will be demoting one of the most successful sports in its collegiate history from varsity to club status. We believe that athletics is about achieving excellence, and the synchronized swimming team has done just that. No sport in the college's history has achieved the number of all-Americans and national medal winners as has Canisius College synchronized swimming, which recently finished fourth at an NCAA national competition."

Executive director Julie Swarts urged athletes, coaches and fans of the sport to contact Canisius athletics director Bill Maher.

In her statement Swarts also wrote:

"Synchronized swimming is a sport on the rise. Over the past five years, the number of members has steadily continued to rise in the U.S. We believe collegiate synchronized swimming is just coming into its own promoting excellent athletes and outstanding students. We hope Mr. Maher will hear the synchro community, the potential loss for his institution, and reconsider the status of this wonderful program."

For the record, the NCAA dropped the sport of synchronized swimming from its emerging sport list in 2010. The NCAA does not sponsor a championship for the sport at any level. Since losing emerging sport status in 2010 other schools which have removed synchronized swimming from its varsity program include the University of Alabama, Birmingham and Keuka. 

Canisius College can still participate in the U.S. Collegiate Nationals, sponsored by USA Synchro, and other meets across the country. The program, however, will not receive financial assistance from the Canisius athletic department including student-athlete scholarships.

by Amy Moritz
@amymoritz 

Former St. Bonaventure guard Jessica Jenkins is having a solid first season in professional women's basketball.

Playing for Keflavik of the Iceland-Dominos League, she has helped to guide her team to the championship series scheduled to begin on Saturday.

She had 16 points with seven rebounds and eight assists in the decisive contest of a five-game series to send her her club to the championship round.

In 31 regular season games, Jenkins averaged 17.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists. She has 10 20-plus point performances this season and three 30-plus games.

You can follow Jenkins on Twitter at @jessjenks14

Photo courtesy www.gobonies.com

by Amy Moritz

Calling all would-be softball sluggers.

In between today's softball doubleheader between Canisius and Niagara at the Demske Sports Complex, the Griffs will host a Home Run Derby open to the public to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. For $5 you get three swings, whether you can crank the home runs or squib out a single.

The competition is expected to begin around 4:30 p.m. and finish around 5 p.m.

The first game of the MAAC doubleheader starts at 3 p.m. Canisius is 17-14 overall and 2-2 in conference play while Niagara is 4-24 overall and 1-5 in the MAAC.

by Amy Moritz

Erie Community College travels to Jamestown today for a twinbill in Region III baseball action. But the best story of the day is in the dugout.

Head coach Joe Bauth is two wins away from 800 career victories with the Kats' program.

ECC is 17-11 overall and 5-0 in Region III.

Bauth is in his 22nd season with the Kats baseball program, the longest tenured coach at ECC. He has led the Kats to six Region III titles and five NJCAA World Series appearances. The last two years, the Kats have compiled 30-win seasons.

In 2011, the team went 30-18 and finished fourth at the NJCAA World Series. Last season, the Kats went 32-17 and were the Region III Tournament runner-up.

ECC plays at Finger Lakes Community College on Tuesday.

Bobby Hurley has his first recruit at UB after receiving a verbal commitment from Deyshonee Much from Redemption Christian Academy in Troy.

The 6-foot-4 Much previously played at Gates-Chili in suburban Rochester before attending prep school at Redemption. He also drew interest from Canisius, Rhode Island, Texas State, Northern Kentucky, Northeastern, Canisius, Fairleigh Dickinson and Monmouth.

Much committed to Hurley last weekend.

---Rodney McKissic

Niagara's Joe Mihalich has been named the coach at Hofstra University according to a source. The school has scheduled a press conferenced for noon Wednesday to officially announce the hiring.

Mihalich, the winningest coach in MAAC history, led a young Purple Eagles squad to the league's regular season crown and a berth in the NIT last season.

---Rodney McKissic