Trying to avenge a disastrous loss in conference play on Saturday, the men's soccer team was able to salvage a 2-2 double-overtime tie against Niagara on Sunday afternoon.
The Bulls (8-5-2, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) started the game out slowly. Niagara (5-5-1, 3-0-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) out-shot Buffalo 11-2 in the first half.
The Purple Eagles also were able to get on the scoreboard first. In the 29th minute, Kwame Oduro finished a give-and-go from Stephen Kauble to give Niagara a 1-0 lead.
Niagara would not let up in the second half. They scored their second goal in the 69th minute. Billy Gustafson drilled a 45-yard kick that carried in the wind and got past Buffalo senior goalkeeper Daniel Bell. Bell came out to catch the ball but misjudged it, and by the time he realized where the ball was, it was too late for him to recover.
In an attempt to avoid suffering two losses over the weekend, the Bulls picked up the offensive pressure and tested Niagara goalkeeper John Fiutowski by recording eight shots in the second half.
Senior Andrae Clarke helped Buffalo get on the board in the 76th minute. His goal was unassisted and it gave Clarke a team-high seven goals on the season.
Only 74 seconds later, junior Lee Catchpole evened the score with his second goal of the season. His goal was scored on a header in which he put the ball in the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2. With his goal, Catchpole snapped a six-game pointless streak.
In the two overtime periods, the Bulls dominated play. Buffalo put up eight shots while Niagara only managed to get two shots off. However, Buffalo was unable to finish on any of their chances. The best opportunity came with 4:20 left when Catchpole missed a penalty kick wide of the net.
"I like the way the guys overcame a two goal deficit," said head coach John Astudillo. "It shows that we weren't playing dead, and our heads were not down once we fell behind. Since we fell behind early, it was a wake-up call for our guys to step up their play."
Astudillo decided to use both of his goalkeepers, so senior Daniel Bell and freshman Robert Shuttleworth split time in goal throughout the match. Bell played 69:49 minutes, while Shuttleworth was in net for 40:11 minutes. Bell gave up both goals, but recorded three saves in the match. Shuttleworth was able to stop both of the shots that he faced.
"I played Robbie today to help him gain more experience playing at the collegiate level," Astudillo said. "He needs some more practice getting closer to the MAC playoffs in case anything happens to Daniel."
Astudillo feels that Buffalo has played inconsistently this season and wants the team to take better advantage of its chances.
"Offensively, we need to capitalize on our opportunities," Astudillo said. "We aren't going to have as many chances in the next couple of games against the top teams in our conference, so we have to finish the chances that are given to us. Defensively, we can't give up fluky goals against the top teams."
Even though it is rare to play back-to-back days in college soccer, the Bulls played strong throughout the game. There was no evidence of fatigue at any moment in the match.
"Fitness is a major strength for this team," Astudillo said. "We were running well the entire game, and were playing the way we wanted to."
Astudillo has confidence that his team can forget about this past weekend, and look ahead to the important matches that are coming up on the schedule in conference play.
"I am totally confident that this team will bounce back for the upcoming game against the first place team in our conference," Astudillo said. "This team is determined to win and knows how important the next couple of games are. I believe the momentum from the second part of this game can carry over. This team has a good attitude and knows they are capable of winning every game that they play."
Buffalo will play again on Friday in their last home game of the season against Northern Illinois. The "Senior Day" game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
