Looking to end their regular season on a winning note, the men's soccer team headed to Oneonta, N.Y. on Tuesday, determined to defeat the Hartwick Hawks.
Hartwick had other plans in mind.
The Bulls (11-3-4, 3-1-2 Mid-American Conference) were held to a 1-1 tie against the Hawks (5-5-6, 1-2-2 MAC) in a game where the Bulls couldn't finish most of what they started.
"We played a superb first half," said head coach John Astudillo. "We were on offensively, we were on defensively and we did everything very, very well. We executed everything we planned out to do and looked good but unfortunately we didn't play the second half and Hartwick came out blazing and really gave us all we could take."
Buffalo tallied the first goal of the game in the 29th minute. Junior forward Dan Bulley scored his third goal off the season from 18 yards out after receiving a throw in from senior forward Lee Catchpole. Catchpole recorded his 14th assist, moving him into a tie for seventh all-time on Buffalo's career assist list.
When the second half rolled around, Buffalo started to get into penalty trouble. In the second half, the Bulls were issued four yellow cards and one red card, which forced them to play a man down for the final 12 minutes.
"Hartwick is a very physical team, and we accumulated so many fouls in the second half," Astudillo said. "After that, the frustration got to us and we let that get the better of us. We need to do a better job of controlling ourselves."
Buffalo also committed 24 fouls to Hartwick's 15, but no foul proved more costly than the foul caused by junior goalkeeper Robert Shuttleworth when he tripped Hartwick player John Paul Boyle, earning a yellow card and awarding Hartwick a penalty kick.
Hartwick's John Paul Boyle capitalized on the opportunity, putting his shot past Shuttleworth, knotting the game 1-1.
According to Astudillo, the Bulls began to get frustrated. Junior forward Moteo Escobar picked up his second yellow card of the game, sending him off of the field. The penalty forced Buffalo to play a man down for the final minutes of the match.
Considering the circumstances of being a man short, Astudillo thought the outcome of the game was good considering the trouble that they got themselves into in the second half.
"Hartwick is a very good team and they really took it to us," Astudillo said. "They were really playing so much better in the second half."
Despite being a man down for the rest of the game, the Bulls managed to hang on for the tie even through the overtime period. Buffalo was outshot for the game 15-9 and Shuttleworth was forced to make seven saves, two of which came in overtime.
Even though this was the last game of the regular season, Astudillo feels that the Bulls did not treat it like a tune-up game for the playoffs. He says that they took it as any other game, but did not perform like they would have liked to.
"We knew we were going to be in a battle," Astudillo said. "We needed to gain more possession of the ball, we needed more space dominance and I thought in the first half we did but we just didn't do it for 90 minutes."
Buffalo is currently tied for second place in the MAC standings with Northern Illinois and must wait for the outcome of Northern Illinois's match with Western Michigan to see whom they will play in the first round of the MAC Tournament.
The quarterfinals, which take place in Akron, Ohio, begin on Thursday.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
