Bulls advance to MAC semifinals

In its Oct. 19 regular season matchup with Toledo, the Buffalo women’s soccer team scored twice in the first half and stopped all four Rockets shots on goal en route to a 3-0 victory.

Toledo faired better against the top-seeded Bulls Sunday in a Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinal matchup, shutting Buffalo out in the first half.

The Bulls were still able to come away with the victory, however, with two second half goals.

The Bulls (14-2-3, 10-0-2 MAC) defeated Toledo 2-0 at UB Stadium Sunday to advance to the MAC Tournament semifinals. Buffalo’s 14 wins ties a program record set in 2000.

Head coach Shawn Burke was not satisfied with Buffalo’s performance despite the victory.

“We wanted to play better today, but credit to Toledo,” Burke said. “They gave us problems all day. We need to be a lot better if we want to win next weekend.”

Buffalo’s first and eventual game-winning goal came off the foot of senior forward Katie Roberts at the 62:04 mark. Roberts has 11 goals this season – which leads the team and is tied for first in the conference.

Buffalo’s second goal gave the team more security, as the score came with a little more than 15 minutes remaining in the game. The score was both sophomore midfielder/forward Andrea Niper’s first career goal and freshman defender Alexandra Lambert’s first career assist.

“It was a team effort,” Niper said. “It’s a great feeling getting your first goal in the books. Alex worked really hard getting me, [junior defender Kristen Markiewicz] did a great job getting the ball to her, and it was a great process and team effort to get the goal to pull away.”

Nine players have scored for the Bulls this season. Niper is a reserve player and her goal exemplified Buffalo’s depth.

“I think we realize now how important reserves,” Niper said. “We’ve been in a ton of overtime games this season, so we’ve been playing huge roles taking over for our starters. It’s on us to come in and not let up when we replace a starter. Now that we see that, it’s a bit easier to come in and don’t let up at all.”

Freshman goalkeeper Laura Dougall earned her 12th shutout of the season, as she faced only three shots on goal. Dougall lay down on the turf and appeared to be injured after a collision with a Rockets player late in the first half. But she was able to remain in the game.

Buffalo possessed the ball on the Rockets’ end of the field for most of the game and outshot Toledo 17-5. But the Rockets did generate several scoring chances in the second half.

“We’ve been good in the backend all year,” Burke said. “In this game, I think we were a bit too casual back there. We played too high, and allowed some easy chances that easily could’ve turned into goals for Toledo. It’s going to be a challenge, but we have to address the defensive side of the ball, not just our backend, but the entire team.”

The Bulls host No. 4 seeded Ball State (11-6-2, 7-5 MAC) in the MAC Tournament semifinals Friday. The remainder of the tournament will be held in UB Stadium. Friday’s match is set for 4 p.m.

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