Issue date: 9/15/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Kim Acheson No. 32 Junior Cory Sartorelli punches it in on a one yard run after an interception by No.3 Craig Polifka for the touchdown.

In a rainy battle of nationally ranked teams, UW-Eau Claire came up just short against UW-Whitewater losing 16-14.

The Blugold offense clicked on a few drives, but it was the defense that kept them in the game.

For the second week in a row, the Blugold defense was solid and held the team in the game while the offense struggled early on.

The Blugolds came out strong in the second half, as senior cornerback Craig Polifka intercepted a pass and took it to the Whitewater 5-yard line.

Junior running back Cory Sartorelli did the rest, finishing the drive while scoring his first touchdown of the year.

Sartorelli felt the team was ready for the match up with Whitewater.

"We were well prepared, it was a close game that went up and down," said Sartorelli.

Whitewater would take the lead back shortly after Sartorelli's touchdown.

After recovering a fumble around the 3-yard line, Whitewater drove the entire field for the go ahead touchdown. Going into the fourth quarter, Whitewater held onto a 16-7 lead.

The Eau Claire offense started to click in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Kyle Paulson started to connect with his receivers through the passing game.

Paulson hit junior receiver Spencer Kehoe several times on the drive and Kehoe finished off the drive with a touchdown.

That brought the score to 16-14 in favor of Whitewater.

The Blugolds would get the ball back in hopes of getting in field goal range.

But in the end they were not able to capitalize and fell to Whitewater by a final score of 16-14.

Head coach Todd Glaser felt his team played a good game, but of course was not completely satisfied.

"Yeah it was disappointing, but they are a good team," said Glaser.

This was Eau Claire's first conference game of the year and it was also a match up of the two top teams in the WIAC.

Glaser felt this game was a great way to see how the Blugolds match up against the best teams in the nation.

He felt his team played well most of the game but had a few mistakes that cost the team the game.

"I thought we played well at times and not so well at times," said Glaser.

He also stressed that the team needs to be just a little more consistent in order to reach their full potential.

The Blugolds will look to get back on track next Saturday at Carson Park in a non-conference game against Hope College (Mich.).

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