With an emotional loss to Akron still lingering, the men's soccer team took out its frustration as it dominated fifth seeded Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne last night, 3-0. The fourth-seeded Bulls (10-6-2, 4-2 Mid-American Conference) advanced to play the No. 1 seeded Northern Illinois Huskies Friday in the MAC semi-finals.
"We know we can play with Akron and Northern (Illinois)," said senior midfielder Brian Knapp. "We wanted to prove to everybody that we're not done yet. We've got everyone on the same page and started a new season tonight."
The Bulls were anxious to put this game away and not look back, as they netted their first goal only eight and a half minutes into the game. The goal came on a fast break as senior forward Braden Byler took a long ball from junior defensemen Dave Chojnowski. Byler fought off IPFW goalkeeper Michael Knitter who was stretched out in hopes to deny Byler's shot. The ball popped loose and Byler put it home. The game was halted as Knitter went down with an injury and had to be carted off. His backup Joshua Howell was put in for the remainder of the game.
"They showed a lot of heart tonight," said Bulls head coach John Astudillo. "Today we could attack and I think that in itself is a good defense for us. They knew their backs were against the wall and nothing but a win would do."
With continuous high pressure and shots on goal, Buffalo added to its 1-0 lead by scoring again in the 43rd minute. This Bulls goal came from freshmen midfielder Steffen Thorensen. Thorensen used his head to knock home a free kick delivered from senior defensemen Kevin Balkanloo to put the Bulls up 2-0.
The Buffalo attack was strong and steady throughout the half as the ball rarely left its offensive end of the field. The Bulls chalked up 18 shots and forced Howell to make 14 saves to keep the game from becoming a blowout.
With a comfortable halftime score of 2-0, the Bulls entered the locker room confident and ready to keep the intensity high and not let its lead slip.
Not only did the Bulls offense shine on the scoreboard, the Buffalo defense held the Mastodons to only two shots on goal the entire game. Buffalo senior goalkeeper Dan Bell earned a shutout making two saves for the win. His counterpart, Howell, made 14 saves in the loss.
"We need to come back and start thinking about specific assignments," Astudillo said. "Northern puts pressure on us at all times and this game gave us a good chance to rest some legs for Friday."
Although the Bulls already celebrated Senior Night, this game marked the last time the eight graduating seniors would play on their home turf. With that in mind, two seniors stepped up. In the 53rd minute, Knapp put home the third and final goal for the Bulls to cap the decisive victory. Knapp took a ball from fellow senior Andrae Clarke and tucked it past Howell from about 12 yards out.
The Bulls dominant win showed as they out shot the Mastodons 32-4 and shut out IPFW in corner kicks. A total of16 Bulls recorded shots, with 13 players putting an attempt on goal.
The Bulls will have to keep up pressure like that Friday afternoon if they hope to beat the Huskies in the upcoming match up.
"Last few years we have knocked them off, we know (Northern Illinois) are going to be gunning for us," Knapp said. "They are going to want to reverse what we did to them this season and we aren't going to let them."
With a high boost of momentum and an early flight Thursday morning, the team will travel to face No. 1 seeded Northern Illinois Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. The Bulls defeated the Huskies on Oct. 20 by a score of 1-0, which gave the Huskies their only loss during the MAC regular season. If the Bulls win Friday, they will advance to their second consecutive conference championship game on Sunday morning.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
