Men's Soccer Loses In Double-Overtime

The UB men's soccer team (6-2-1) lost a heartbreaker Friday night at RAC Field, battling a tough Oneonta squad (4-4-0) into double overtime before finally succumbing 1-0, on a diving header by Red Dragons' forward Ricky Quest.

"It was a tough game," Bulls' freshman forward Shyle Braithwaite said. "Both teams put our hearts out there."

Aggressive defense from both sides dictated the tempo of the game throughout, but ultimately it was a piece of impressive and almost serendipitous offense that proved to be the deciding factor.

The winning goal was scored when a cross by Oneonta midfielder Jerry Manneh sailed a bit closer to the goal than planned and bounced off of the outstretched hands of UB goalkeeper Brandon Foley. The ball then took a bounce off of the crossbar and found the head of a completely laid-out Quest, resulting in an open-net goal.

"It was a great cross," said Quest, a recent transfer to Oneonta, and a two-time Junior College Player of the Year in South Carolina. "I stayed persistent, the ball took a good bounce. (It was my) first goal of the season, and it came at a great time."

The timing couldn't have been better, as it came with just four minutes left in the second overtime, the game seemed destined to end as it had begun - in a 0-0 tie.

"When it gets to overtime, going back and forth like that, you never know what will happen," said UB coach John Astudillo. "That's just the breaks of soccer."

Despite the result of this particular break, Astudillo said he was proud of his team. He said he felt they played well enough to win by controlling the ball on offense and playing stifling defense throughout the contest.

"I couldn't be happier with our effort," said Astudillo. "Sometimes I am critical of our effort, but not tonight."

Buffalo outshot the Red Dragons 13-7 and appeared to be in control of the game throughout regulation. Astudillo credited junior forward Greg Galemore with quietly, but surely initiating the UB attack, and helping manufacture quite a few more quality scoring opportunities than Oneonta was able to produce.

The Red Dragons struggled to find any offensive flow through much of the game because of the defensive efforts of Matt Stuczynski, Mbwana Johnson, and especially Cheick Diarra.

"Cheick played out of his mind," said Astudillo. "To go up and down the field like that, 120 yards, is amazing."

Ironically, as good as the Bulls' defense was, it may have been a defensive letdown that spawned their most impressive offensive assault.

With just 15 seconds left in the first half, on what was probably Oneonta's best chance at a goal other than the game-winner, a low cross by John Simone snuck through the Buffalo defense and appeared to just graze the foot of an attacking teammate in front of the Bulls' goal. The ball sailed wide, but the close call served as a wakeup for UB.

"We let up a little at the end of the first half, but we had a team talk and came out flying in the second half," said Braithwaite.

Whatever was said at halftime seemed to have been effective, as the Bulls had three great scoring chances early in the second half.

The first, just three minutes into the half, came when 6-4 UB defenseman Andrew Butler got his head on a perfectly placed corner kick, only to see the ball scoot just wide of the net, past the outstretched fingers of Oneonta goalkeeper Timothy Melia.

UB's next chance came at the 34-minute mark in the second half, when a run by Braithwaite, off of a feed from senior midfielder Jeff Martinko, ended with a shot that sailed just right of the goal.

Less than two minutes later, in what may have been the Bulls' best scoring opportunity of the night, a shot by sophomore midfielder Erik Jaanimagi was stopped but bobbled by the Oneonta goalie, setting off a desperate melee in front of the net that saw UB forwards Lee Catchpole, Braden Byler, and Martinko all scrambling to put away the loose ball, but to no avail. Unfortunately, missed opportunities like these became the story of the night for the Bulls the minute Ricky Quest's header found the back of the net.

UB will look to rebound from Friday's loss when they kick off the MAC portion of their schedule at Akron on Friday, Oct. 1.