Men's Soccer

Hopes were high as the University of Buffalo's men's soccer team headed to Huntington, W.Va. for their MAC Tournament quarterfinal match with the Kentucky Wildcats.

Buffalo had defeated the heralded Wildcats by a score of 2-1 earlier in the season, giving the Bulls a reason to believe they could pull this one out.

Unfortunately for UB, hopes and everything else came crashing down to the ground as they were bludgeoned by a score of 4-1.

Early in the first half, in the ninth minute of play, Wildcat Craig Pykett shot the ball 50 yards downfield to forward Chris McDaniel, who chipped the ball over UB goalkeeper Brian Wozniak for the 1-0 Kentucky lead. Not the way you want to start off the game.

And much to the Bulls' dismay, things only got worse.

Just a minute and a half later, Jamal Shteiwi gave the Wildcats their second goal of the game, and UK wasn't even done yet.

Twenty-eight minutes in, Wildcat J.D. Stephenson took a free kick from midfield that found its way to Anthony Peters who put it in the net, and at the end of the half, Kentucky had a dominating 3-0 lead over UB.

"Our game plan against a team like Kentucky is to attack, attack, attack, and hopefully pick up a good defensive rhythm ... perhaps how we set out to play them backfired," said UB Head Coach John Astudillo.

Wozniak was pulled after the third goal and replaced by goalkeeper Chris Vavrina. Buffalo had not given up more than three goals in a game this season.

The Bulls finally landed on the scoreboard 88 minutes into the game with a Dave Pidgeon goal off a pass from Mike Peplinski, but the game was already decided and out of reach at this point.

UK's Adam Walker scored in the final minute of play to finish the job and give Kentucky a 4-1 victory.

"I was mildly disappointed at our start, but loved the way our team played in the second half, out-shooting Kentucky six shots to four ... time just ran out."

The Bulls finished the season 6-9-1 overall and 3-4-0 in MAC play; Kentucky advanced to the semifinals after earning their ninth straight MAC tournament victory. They will face No. 1 seeded Bowling Green on Friday. The other semifinal match pits No. 2 Akron against Marshall.

The semifinals were supposed to be played last Sunday at Marshall, but rain-induced poor field conditions forced the tournament to be moved to Bowling Green. The championship game will be played on Sunday, also at Bowling Green.