A lot of attention has been given to the women's soccer team and the considerable improvement it have made since last season.
But all the improvement in the world means nothing if the Bulls (12-4-4, 5-3-4 Mid-American Conference) fold in the playoffs.
Buffalo fought through a wild game against Kent State (12-8, 6-6 MAC) and willed its way to a 2-1 victory in Sunday's MAC quarterfinals. The win marks the first time the Bulls have made it past the quarterfinals since 2000.
The Bulls defeated the Golden Flashes last Thursday using a strong defensive performance by their midfielders and defenders. However, head coach Michael Thomas warned his team that Sunday's rematch wasn't going to play out the same way.
"We talked about it being a completely different game going down to their field," Thomas said. "I told them not to make any assumptions based on Thursday's game, and [Buffalo] came out believing that it was a completely different team."
Thomas' premonition came true, as this game was far more physical than the first.
Both teams combined for 33 fouls, 13 more from last game's total.
Kent State was all over Buffalo. The Golden Flashes made seven shots on goal after getting just one in the previous game. Their newfound aggressiveness paid off in the second half. Kent State forward Jaclyn Dutton scored on a 22-yard free kick to knot the game at one apiece in the 52nd minute.
The game wasn't tied for long, and the Bulls answered right back 28 seconds later.
Junior midfielder Taylor Thompson took the game into her own feet and laced a shot from 15 yards deep for an unassisted goal to give the Bulls the lead and the win.
Thompson has been solid for the Bulls all year, but Thomas said this goal was her greatest thus far.
"It was a great response to their goal," Thomas said. "Thompson came back with one of the better individual efforts we had all year and just made an amazing goal to put us up. As a coach you can't ask for a better response to adversity to a game."
Buffalo has benefited from the outstanding play of its underclassmen all season, but this game was won by the team's upperclassmen.
Senior midfielder Aubrey Stahl scored the team's first goal in the 41st minute. Stahl headed in a pass from forward sophomore Stephanie Velez to give the Bulls the early advantage.
Sophomore goalkeeper Ainsley Wheldon had another solid game with five saves, but Kent State made sure to put the pressure on her. The sophomore suffered numerous bumps and bruises because of Kent State's attack on the box.
Wheldon's tenacity helped put her even higher on Buffalo's all-time chart. Her 137 saves puts her in the top five all-time for most in one season. In addition, Wheldon now owns the record for most minutes played in a season with 1844:45.
While the Bulls' win against Kent State is its latest in a season full of milestones, they will have to face their toughest challenge yet on Friday. Buffalo's next opponent, Toledo (12-6-2, 10-1-1 MAC), is coming off of an easy 8-0 win over Ohio.
The Rockets have already beaten the Bulls, 2-0, a few weeks ago, and Buffalo is well aware of how dangerous Toledo is.
"Toledo's a very talented team, but I think when we played them the last time we gave them a little too much respect," Stahl said. "We let them run over us a bit, and we won't go into the game with that type of mentality."
Thomas believes his team is more than capable of defending against the MAC's No. 1 scoring team.
"Toledo's a model of consistency," Thomas said. "We proved today that we're not happy with just making the tournament. We are going to come out and trust in each other, do what we do, and hopefully we can keep this ride going."
The Bulls will play at Toledo's Scott Park Soccer Complex. The kickoff time has yet to be announced.
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