Bulls fall short in MAC final

In a season full of overtime-thrilling victories, the men's soccer team fell one game short of making it to the NCAA tournament.

In the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship game, the Bulls battled the Akron Zips for 102 minutes of play, but lost 1-0 in the second overtime on Sunday afternoon.

To get to the final, the Bulls faced the Hartwick Hawks(5-6-7) in the semi-finals of the MAC playoffs. Buffalo (10-7-2) was looking to avenge for a 2-1 defeat by the Hawks in the regular season.

The first half was slow for both teams, fearful of giving up a great scoring opportunity that might end their season. The best opportunity came in the 34th minute when senior forward Dan Stevens took a low shot that was bobbled by the Hawks goalkeeper. Sophomore midfielder Mateo Escobar was there for the rebound, but his attempt was blocked and sent out of bounds by a Hawks defender.

Heading into halftime, the Bulls held an 8-3 shot advantage.

Both teams played a similar style in the second half; neither team came up with good shots on goal, playing defensively, not giving many scoring chances.

As the half went on, the offense began to pick up knowing that a spot in the MAC Championship was at stake.

The Hawks had a chance to get on the scoreboard first with 14 minutes remaining in the game. John Paul Boyle rocketed a shot that went past sophomore goalkeeper Robert Shuttleworth, but the crossbar saved the Bulls, keeping the score 0-0.

Right before the second half ended, in the 88th minute, Buffalo scored the only goal of the game. Junior midfielder Martin John took a corner kick that was sent out to Stevens, who scored his third goal of the season by firing a shot from 25-yards out. The ball deflected off a Hawks defender past the goalkeeper. Buffalo was able come away with the 1-0 victory to keep their season alive.

"In this game, we were more attacking and went forward well," said head coach John Astudillo. "We were quite confident going against Hartwick even though they beat us already. We knew we could go right at them and the guys played very well."

Shuttleworth stopped all four shots that came his way. This was his fourth shutout of the season.

The Bulls found out later that night that their opponent in the final would be the Zips. Akron (15-3-2), ranked 17th nationally, defeated defending MAC-champion Northern Illinois (7-9-4) 2-1 in double overtime.

In the MAC final, both teams were very physical. There were three injuries in the first eight minutes of the game. Stevens picked up a yellow card in the 19th minute for a late tackle.

The best opportunity in the first half came off the foot of a Zips player in the 25th minute. Matt Tutich, who scored the only goal when Akron defeated Buffalo 1-0 on Oct. 26, blasted a shot from 20 yards out. Shuttleworth made a diving stop to prevent the Zips from going ahead. At halftime, Akron held a 4-3 shot advantage

"Robbie Shuttleworth played outstanding in goal," Astudillo said. "He made some sterling saves that kept us in the game, and he should have had a better outcome for his play."

Early in the second half, Akron had another chance to go ahead. Off a free kick from sophomore defender Steffan Thoresen's foul, junior defender Dan Gwyther kicked the ball off his own goal-line on the shot by Tutich to keep the score 0-0.

After 90 minutes of play, the score was still tied at zero, which resulted in two overtimes. The Bulls were 5-0-2 in overtime this season.

"In overtime, we were playing to win the game," Astudillo said. "In the first 90 minutes, we had the ball as much as Akron did. We knew we could play with them."

Buffalo created the first scoring chance in overtime. They received a corner kick but were unable to take advantage of the opportunity.

Early in the second overtime, Akron capitalized on their opportunity and scored the game-winning goal. Steven Kalan crossed the ball from the left side of the field where Anthony Ampaipitakwong jumped up in the air and headed the ball past Shuttleworth from six yards out.

Shuttleworth made five saves in the contest and lost his first game in goal since the regular season opener. Akron goalie Evan Bush made two saves in the game.

"It's definitely a disappointing feeling right now, and I think it was an unfair result," Astudillo said. "We played with great tactics and had a well balanced game attacking, defending, and possessing."

By reaching the MAC final for the second time in three years, Buffalo has proved to the rest of the conference that they are a team to be reckoned with in the future.

"We had 14 new faces on the team this year. So, early in the season it was tough to get the guys to play together," Astudillo said. "Yesterday's game was probably our best game of the season. I have always said that guys should play better, and better, and better every game, and that's what this team did. We had a solid season and I am encouraged for the future for this team and we are only going to get better."