Traveling to Bowling Green and Penn State this weekend, the Buffalo men's soccer team went 1-1. The Bulls picked up another Mid-American Conference win Friday night against Bowling Green, but then fell to a tough Penn State team Sunday afternoon.
Buffalo fell behind early 1-0 to the Falcons in Friday night's match, but the Bulls rallied back to score two goals to top Bowling Green by a final score of 2-1.
The Falcons became the first team to score in the first half on the Buffalo defense this season, George Davis IV broke through two Buffalo defenders to record his second career goal. The goal was scored just two and half minutes in to the match.
Down 1-0 early, the Bulls (8-4-1, 2-0 MAC) did not panic as senior striker Andrae Clarke netted the tying goal for Buffalo only seven minutes later. Clarke leads the team with six goals on the season; he received a cross from senior midfielder Brian Knapp and blasted home the goal.
"I knew that we needed to get a score in the first 20 minutes of the game," said Bulls head coach John Astudillo. "Today I was much more pleased with our overall effort as opposed to IPFW. We did exactly what we needed to do."
Junior striker Dan Stevens scored the winning goal after 28:38 minutes had expired on the game clock. Sophomore forward Marc Stencel, who came off the bench, had several Bulls to choose from on an attack in Falcon territory. He connected on a horizontal through pass to Stevens.
"The ball was switched across the field and I was on the left side, the corner of the 18," Stevens said. "The defender was coming at me and I faked left and went right and just set it up on my right foot to bend it in."
With a 2-1 lead at halftime, the Bulls were determined to hold the Falcons for 45 minutes of play.
In an effort to turn the tides on Bowling Green's attack plans, the Buffalo defense only allowed four shots and contained the Falcons strikers. In attempts to add to its lead, the Bulls racked up eight shots, but were unable to grab another goal.
"It definitely seems like we are starting to click better now," Knapp said. "The MAC part of the season is the toughest. You got to really fight and do everything you can for the win."
Sunday's game wasn't so much in the Bulls' favor. After the teams went into halftime with Penn State up 1-0 at half, the Nittnay Lions kept the pressure on scoring two more goals to beat Buffalo 3-0.
"Penn State played very very well, especially in the first 30 minutes," Astudillo said. "They put a lot of pressure on us and we didn't really respond as well as we should have as the half went on."
The Bulls hung with Penn State (4-7-2) for the majority of the first half. They managed to hold PSU, and contain its early opportunities as senior goalkeeper Dan Bell saved two Nittnay Lions' shots. Penn State netted its first goal 36 minutes into the game as forward Simon Omekanda put home the shot after a pass from fellow forward Chris Germani.
Penn State out shot the Bulls 7-1 in the first half and contained Buffalo's attack as goalkeeper Conrad Taylor was not tested.
Omekanda and the Nittnay Lions jumped out of the gate in the second half to pressure the Bulls, as they would score just two minutes into the second half. Omekanda cashed in his second goal of the game on a pass from midfielder Alex Wentzel. The goal gave Penn State a 2-0 lead.
With a high sense of urgency to get on the board, the Bulls pushed their attack and managed several scoring opportunities. Balancing out the shot chart from the first half, Buffalo matched Penn State's six shots. Buffalo recorded two shots on goal and forced Taylor to make big saves to conserve his shutout.
Clarke, senior striker Braden Byler and sophomore defensemen Dan Gwyther put the ball on net for the Bulls. Taylor made three saves in the win. Bell allowed two goals and saved two shots in 70 minutes of play for the Bulls.
"They have a quality team with quality players," Stevens said. We possessed the ball well at times and created opportunities, the game just didn't go our way today."
Penn State closed the door on the Bulls by scoring again in the 71st minute. Midfielder Jeff Chambers scored the third goal for the Nittnay Lions on an assist from Omenkanda. This put Penn State up for good at 3-0 and secured its fourth win of the season.
"We're a good team. We need to polish up a few things and get refreshed," Astudillo said. "We can't have a couple of defensive lapses in the second half. We don't want to lose, we don't want to tie, we want to win the game. So we have to press."
Buffalo will next face Western Michigan Friday, Oct. 13 at UB Stadium. The game is set to start at 5 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
