Steve Mellor of Duquesne scored two first half goals within five minutes of each other, and the Dukes never looked back. They added two more goals as insurance, but they were not needed, as Duquesne shut out UB 4-0 in the first game of the year on August 29.
The Bulls were out shot 21-9 in the game, and were clearly outplayed.
"[Our] defense needs to get a lot better, no question about it," said Buffalo head coach John Astudillo. "We need to do what we were doing and tighten up, and defensive marks need to get tighter."
The game wasn't full of entirely bad news though. Freshman goalkeeper Daniel Bell was brought in for the second half and did not give up a single goal on three shots in his first Division I game ever.
"He's going to do well for us; he needs to be tested a little bit more than this weekend," said Astudillo.
Astudillo said the Bulls were not ready for the skill level presented by Duquesne, because of a light preseason schedule.
"We weren't really tested, we weren't under fire yet," said Astudillo.
This was the first test for the Bulls, and they simply were not ready for the level of play presented by Duquesne. UB has thirteen new players this year, and according to Astudillo that is one reason for the Bulls' lackluster play.
"When you have that many new faces it's going to take a while before we start clicking," said Astudillo.
Dan Hartung and Damien Pottinger scored the other goals for Duquesne.
Temple handed UB their second consecutive loss at the Duquesne Classic, 3-1 on August 30.
Astudillo pulled senior goalkeeper Chris Vavrina after he re-injured his shoulder, which he has already had surgery on.
The lone goal for the Bulls was scored by another freshman, Matthew Okopny. Patrick Beckley was credited with the assist.
According to Astudillo, the injury to Vavrina could be season ending, or it could keep him out for just couple weeks. Astudillo certainly hopes that he will be back before Mid-American Conference play begins.
Looking at the positive side of things, the Bulls made fewer mistakes against the Owls than they did against Duquesne the day before.
"We started out really shaky in the first five minutes, then we settled down for about 30-35 minutes [and] we played solid, really solid, taking it to Temple," said Astudillo.
At that point, the Bulls had been playing their best soccer of the year, but then they fell apart.
"At the end of the first half, with about five minutes to go, we came unraveled again," said Astudillo. "One defensive mistake, bang, another defensive mistake, bang, and it was frustrating that after playing so well, we were still behind."
Astudillo said he is going to prepare differently for Central Connecticut State this weekend, focusing on communication during practices between now and Friday. Improvement is expected from the entire UB defense, especially Astudillo's four defensemen, Cheick Diarra, Matt Stuczynski, Andrew Butler, and Mike Geller. They will need to play extra-well at the UB Fall Classic this Friday at 7, to protect freshman goalkeeper Daniel Bell in his first ever start.
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
