On Sunday, the men's soccer team hoped to ride the momentum from their undefeated streak in the match against Duquesne.
After a battle of defenses, the blue and white came out on top, 1-0. Buffalo (9-2-1, 1-0-0 Mid-American Conference) earned its sixth-straight shutout and fourth consecutive victory.
The Bulls' shut out streak is currently the longest in the nation at 566 minutes.
The Bulls and the Dukes (4-2-3), held each other at 0-0 in the first half. Buffalo's defensive line was lead by senior Dan Gwyther and stacked with juniors Alex Mihal, Steffen Thoresen and freshman Tom Beckvermit.
Head coach John Astudillo credits Gywther for being able to not only work with his regular line but also with the newer line set up as a result of injuries.
He feels Gywther has done an excellent job as the team's central back, directing the back line in front of the goalie and keeping the ball away from the net.
Astudillo has also looked at defenders Beckvermit and Mihal, who have stepped up and filled in for their injured teammates.
"Tommy Beckvermit has commended on an outstanding job," Astudillo said. "A quiet guy who has been doing quite a great job is Alex Mihal. He has really secured the outside of the plank and has been doing a very good job not only defending but attacking it."
Both teams kept their opponent out of the box until the last sixteen minutes of the second half when the Bulls took control. Senior forward Marc Stencel switched the ball from the left side of the field to the right to senior forward Lee Catchpole who served it to senior midfielder Martin John who flipped it over a Duke's head then proceeded to volley into the left corner.
The score remained 1-0 until the final buzzer rang, senior goalie Bobby Shuttleworth keeping the Ball out of the Bulls goal for the remainder of the game.
"I think Bobby's doing a superb job," Astudillo said. "Myself and this team have come to expect him to have exceptional performances, he really hasn't disappointed and he has come up with the key save when we need him to."
Astudillo is proud of his team who just finished their last game of September with fatigue and injury creeping up on them.
"I think [the win] is a terrific thing right now, I think that the boys battled through this quite a bit," Astudillo said. "I thought that Duquesne was a very, very decent team, they attacked well and were very organized but we were able to defend them well, so well that we didn't allow them to score in. On the other hand they were a little tenacious on defense but in the end we were able to attack them and attack them consistently."
When all is said and done, Astudillo feels confident in his team and is very happy with the way they have performed as of late.
"A lot of credit goes to their fitness, a lot of credit goes to their gutsy performance and I am very happy," Astudillo said. "I like the way this team is performing right now, I just see some really consistent play that I am hoping that not much is going to fall off in the next couple of games."
The Bulls will host Western Michigan on Oct. 3 at the UB Stadium at 7 p.m.
