Bulls Continue Their Downward Spiral

UB's men's soccer team hosted the Thundering Herd of Marshall in a Mid-American Conference match up Sunday afternoon at RAC field.

The Bulls (1-9-3, 0-3-0 MAC) and the Thundering Herd (4-9-0, 1-3-0 MAC) both came into the contest in search of their first conference win, but it was the Bulls falling to the visiting Thundering Herd by a score of 1-0.

The loss was UB's third consecutive 1-0 loss and sixth straight loss overall.

Midway through the first half, the momentum of the game started to swing in the Thundering Herd's favor. The Bulls defense and goalie Chris Vavrina started to see a lot more pressure penetrating their half of the field.

This pressure would lead to the lone goal of the game.

At the 25:10 mark, the Herd took advantage of a UB penalty called a few yards outside the box. Marshall's Jeremy Ashe took the original free kick, driving the ball towards the Bulls' wall. Buffalo's wall stood up and the shot was redirected out of the box. The Herd's Michael McDonald was awaiting the redirected shot and sent the ball back in towards the net. The lightly struck ball found its way through the crowded front of the net and squeezed inside the left goalposts past a diving Vavrina who had been screened on the play.

"That's why you take the shots on goal," said Bulls' head coach John Astudillo, "Anything can happen."

The Herd would take this lead into the half as passing miscues and inopportune penalties haunted the UB attack.

Both teams started the contest at a torrid pace. The play early on was very competitive, as both teams exchanged numerous charges down the field. Buffalo had its first opportunity just inside the tenth minute off a corner kick. Bulls' defenseman Andrew Butler trapped the centering corner kick, settled the ball in the box and sent a shot that was off the mark left.

Marshall countered UB's attack with what looked to be the first goal of the game. On its next charge, the Thundering Herd had a two-on-one opportunity that saw Marshall's Salvador Djenkeng find his teammate, midfielder Jeremy Ashe, with a pass. Ashe took the pass and after making a move on Butler found himself with an open net. Ashe sent a shot towards the open goal but UB defenseman Mike Geller hustled back to the net and cleared the shot with a diving attempt.

Minutes later, the Bulls had their second and last significant scoring chance of the half. Buffalo midfielder, Ross Tauchert, made a run down the left side of the goal causing the Marshall goaltender to come sliding out of net. The ball was redirected and Tauchert was unable to control the rebound before it went out of bounds.

In order for the Bulls to come back, UB would need to come out of halftime and do something they have not done yet all year in MAC play - score.

Unfortunately for UB, the early play of the second half wouldn't see many scoring chances. This did not mean, however, it was short on action.

Both teams came out with an urgency to score the next goal. This resulted in some very, very physical play. Hard slide tackles, yellow cards, trash talking, and penalties were numerous. The hard play by both the Bulls and the Thundering Herd would lead to an incident with under thirty five minutes to go.

As the Bulls' leading scorer, Andrae Clarke, streaked down the left sideline deep into the Marshall zone he became entangled with the Herd's Michael Bourassa. As the players were getting up, Bourassa shoved Clarke and a dispute arose. All players on the field, including goalies, ran to back up their teammate.

"At this point in the MAC schedule, everybody wants those two points," said Astudillo. "Teams are going to scratch and claw and do whatever is necessary to win."

The referees controlled the situation and handed out the appropriate yellow cards to those involved and the goalies for leaving their nets. As play resumed, UB looked to be a bit more motivated to score as they put continued pressure on the Thundering Herd as time ran down. Scoring chances by UB's Samuel Collings, Patrick Beckley, Clarke, and Erik Jaanimagi failed to find the back of the net as Buffalo was shut out for the fourth consecutive game.

The Bulls are off for twelve days before they travel to Kentucky to take on the Wildcats on Oct. 24. Astudillo remains optimistic stating, "I look forward to these upcoming games. We're going to surprise somebody. We just need to find someone to be that game breaker and get us a goal."