Tough weekend for the Bulls

The heat was turned up on the men's soccer team this weekend and its offense failed to respond.

Buffalo (3-4) lost to both New Mexico (4-1-1) and UC Santa Barbara (2-2-2) this weekend in the Lobo Classic on the campus of the University of New Mexico.

In their first game of the Lobo Classic, the Bulls dropped a tight 1-0 match to the tournament host. Buffalo ran into a solid defense that stifled their offensive attack. After scoring six goals in the past three games, the Bulls offense looked out of rhythm, attempting only two shots on goal throughout the contest.

The Lobos scored the only goal of the match in the 42nd minute when forward Josh Caffey put one in the net off a corner kick. The Bulls defense came together in the second half and didn't allow the Lobos to take another shot in the game. Despite the defensive effort, Buffalo's offense couldn't break through.

Sunday was a similar story for the Bulls, who had their hands full against UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos wasted no time as junior Tim Pontius tagged Buffalo up early off a corner kick in the eighth minute of the game.

UC Santa Barbara went on to punch one more in the net in the 27th minute to take a 2-0 lead. There were no fireworks in the second half for Buffalo as the Gauchos tacked on two more goals in the 66th and 87th minutes, extending the lead to 4-0.

Bulls head coach John Astudillo was not happy with the performance, but also took into consideration the quality of the opponent that his team was up against. UC Santa Barbara was recently ranked in the top 25 before dropping their first two games of the season.

"When you're playing a top notch team as the one we just played, you have to play for 90 minutes and we did not," Astudillo said.

The Bulls were outshot 14-6 in the match and just didn't look like they were up for the challenge.

Fatigue may have played a factor in the loss for Buffalo. The game was their fourth in seven days, with traveling and game play in such a short span taking a toll on the team.

Still, Astudillo refused to make excuses.

"They were just better than us in the front and in the back," Astudillo said. "They defended better one on one. Most importantly, they controlled the midfield play."

Buffalo will now have 10 days to rest and prepare for their next game against the Hartwick Hawks (0-5-1) on Sept. 28.