After a nearly perfect season, in which the Buffalo men's soccer team set a team record for consecutive wins starting the season 8-0, head coach John Astudillo is determined to have the team forget about the 2005 season and look towards the future.
"We're trying to avoid as much as possible talking about the '05 season, in order to build on '06 and concentrate on '06," Astudillo said. "We're trying to find some of the pitfalls from '05 and use those as experience builders. There's some experience coming, but there's also pieces from last year missing and you can never replace that. You have to go out and build a new team, and to be honest were at such an infant stage. I'm not quite pleased with where we're at right now."
After losing in a shootout in the Mid-American Championship game, and failing to receive an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, the Bulls took the field for the first time this season and won the WVU Shootout. Though Astudillo is happy with the results, he sees many holes that the team will need to fix in order to repeat last season's success.
"As a fan of the team I was quite pleased with the results, you go out there with the sole purpose of winning the tournament," Astudillo said. "As a coach I can't be pleased at all with what we did. I understand that everybody is at the same stage of the season, but offensively we just weren't where we should be. We should be a lot more dangerous. Especially against West Virginia, who is a stronger team and will be one of the strongest teams we face all season. We should have responded better."
Last season the Bulls were led offensively by senior Andre Clark, who had a team high 11 assists and 29 points, and junior Lee Catchpole who totaled 24 points on the season. Catchpole and Clark tied for the team lead with nine goals. However, both players were shutout over this past weekend as the Bulls managed only two goals in two games.
Defensively, the Bulls are led by senior goalie Dan Bell who allowed only one goal in two games at the WVU Shootout. Sophomore defensemen Dan Gwyther was named the MVP of the WVU Shootout, as well as MAC athlete of the week.
"In our offense we think we know how to get the job done, but we're not quite doing it," Astudillo said. "We should be able to score more goals, but somehow we're not doing it. Defensively, we are doing better than what I thought we were going to do, but on the offense we just have to be able to put a lot more men into the attack."
Astudillo has a vision of how this team can perform, and though it does not meet his expectations at this time, there is still a long season to go.
"What I envisioned this team doing, and what it is doing right now, it's not quite there," Astudillo said. "I envisioned them being an extremely fast attacking team, one that's going to be explosive on offensive transition and one that's going to be tough defensively."
Several new recruits have become part of Astudillo's plan, and he is counting on them to contribute immediately to the success of the team.
"I am quite pleased with the newcomers, because there are two segments of them," Astudillo said. "The ones that are going to deliver right away; Ville Wahlsten, Steffen Thoresen, and Matthew Escobar, they have to deliver right away. The other ones are well equipped to develop more, with a little more time, I think they'll make an impact on the team."
While Astudillo wants the team to look towards next year, he admits that losing in the championship game last season is driving this year's squad to their new goal: a MAC championship.
"As a coach I always have just one expectation, that the team gets better with every game," Astudillo said. "As a team I know that they have their eyes set on this time not getting to the MAC championship game but this time going over the hump and getting to the NCAA's."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
