It has been a long, tough season for the UB men's soccer team. After an impressive 6-1-1 start to the 2004 season, the Bulls have produced only one victory since, losing six of their past seven games.
Other teams in the Mid-American Conference have not been kind to the Bulls. The impressive offenses of their conference foes have left the UB defenders scratching their heads; Buffalo has been outscored by a combined score of 13-3 in conference games alone.
The path does not get any clearer for Buffalo (7-7-1, 1-4-0 MAC), as they host Western Michigan (8-6-1 overall, 3-2-0 MAC). The Broncos have won seven of their last eight matches. Their lone loss came at the hands of Wisconsin-Green Bay by a score of 1-0.
Ryan Goldman enters the game as the leader of the Broncos. Goldman earned the MAC player of the week award after scoring five goals last weekend, four of which came in one game against Bowling Green. Goldman's several goals against Bowling Green helped him break the school record for most goals scored in a single match.
John Astudillo, the Bulls' head coach knows that the Broncos will bring a lot of firepower into Friday's match at RAC Field.
"We will need to restructure ourselves defensively," said Astudillo. "Western Michigan has been scoring tons of goals. We simply must contain them. We have been strong when we have controlled the midfield. If we can take control of the line we can find success defensively."
The health of the Bulls will also be a determining factor for the Bulls when they enter the weekend contest. Buffalo has a number of banged-up players and will look for strong performances from the remaining healthy players on the roster. The Bulls need juniors Matt Stuczynski and Shyle Braithwaite and senior Cheick Diarra to all step up and be leaders out on the field.
Diarra scored the Bulls' lone goal against Marshall, and should be able to lead Buffalo into Friday's match. Astudillo will look to Diarra and the rest of the senior class to lead the younger members of the Bulls in the right direction.
"It's a learning process," said Astudillo. "We have gamers on our team. We are beginning to come through with underclassmen, players like Shyle and Cheick are catching on and producing for us. We still need our seniors to take charge on Friday, it's senior day and I think the seniors will have a great game."
A 7 p.m. kickoff is scheduled for the Friday night game on RAC Field following a ceremony to honor UB seniors Cheick Diarra, Jeff Martinko, Andrew Butler, and Mirnes Biscevic.
