A heavy-hearted Duquesne team knocked the men's soccer team off its four game win streak with a 2-1 victory Friday night. In light of last week's shooting of five Duquesne basketball players, the Bulls exchanged a "St. Karen's I Leave Peace Prints" non-violence flag, to honor the spirit of non-violence in our society.
Chalking up three straight shut out victories in last week's action, the Bulls were looking to carry that momentum into a home game versus the Atlantic-10 foe.
With a close amount of shots in the first half, Buffalo's six to Duquesne's five, the game was fast paced but evenly played. The stat that Duquesne lacked was corner kicks as it was not granted any the entire match.
Opportunities in the first half were ample for the Bulls (5-3-1), but they were unable to cash in on them. Buffalo was led by sophomore defensemen Dan Gwyther with two shots on goal and junior forward Dan Stevens who recorded three shots and had the Bulls only assist. The Bulls' lone goal came from sophomore striker Marc Stencel late in the second half.
"I think the difference was capitalizing on whatever opportunities we had," said Bulls head coach John Astudillo. "We knew the pace of the game would be frenetic and to attack through the midfield. They play a very physical and aggressive style. "
Matching up physically with the Bulls, the Duquesne offense had several chances in the first half, but was denied by the Bulls' senior goalkeeper Daniel Bell. The Dukes (4-3-1) had their best chance of the half in the 23rd minute as Duquesne's Greg Anan failed to close on an open shot opportunity in the Buffalo box. Buffalo's quick defensive backs were able to clear the loose ball and keep the score tied at zero.
The Bulls got a scare in the 13th minute of play as senior striker Andrae Clarke went down hard on a Duquesne foul. Clarke would leave the game in the 20th minute for the remainder of the half.
Deadlocked at zero entering the locker room, the Bulls continued their nine-game streak with having not given up a first-half goal. However, Duquesne's first goal came in the 48th minute as junior midfielder Greg Anan ripped a shot off the crossbar and saw it ricochet down into the net. Junior midfielder Travis McKenzie and freshmen strike Alex Trujillo assisted on the play.
"We had a pretty good start, the big fast guys got going early. We have more technical players and better players," Stevens said. "At the end they just came away with the win, we were unlucky."
The goal marked the first score let up by Bell in three straight games. Bell stopped four of the six Duke's shots in the second half. His counterpart for Duquesne, Zach Varga, saved six shots in the win.
With 225 fans on hand at UB Stadium, the Bulls became anxious to score. Buffalo began to change its style to heavily attack the Dukes defense looking to break one open for the tie. Buffalo won the shot battle 9-6 in the second half, but only had one goal to show for it. The Bulls were also granted nine corner kicks during the match, five of them coming in the final frame. Again, a pesky Duquesne backfield allowed nothing.
Duquesne's second goal came in the 89th minute as the Bulls formation was pushed towards the offensive end of the field. The Dukes fast break proved to be too much at the end as Trujillo netted the winning goal with an assist from teammate junior midfielder Nick Barla.
Senior defensemen Dave Chojnowski and Stevens were handed yellow cards in the loss. McKenzie was booked for the Dukes.
"We cannot accept a result like this anymore, especially at home," Astudillo said. "When it comes to the MAC (Mid-American Conference), you don't bounce back from a game like this, you lose a game like this and you are that far back."
Stevens echoed Astudillo's concerns about when the Bulls begin conference play.
"This is all a build up to MAC play. That is going to be very intense," Stevens said. "No matter if it is IPFW or Akron, we're going to have to come out firing."
The Bulls open up MAC play Friday, Sept. 29 when it travels to Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
