There is nothing better than watching a team play at its best, and Sunday afternoon found anyone at the Women's Soccer Practice Field watching a team play at its very best.
In a match that was fiercely fought, the men's soccer (6-6-1, 3-2-0) team defeated the University of Kentucky (7-7-0, 0-2-0), a team that was ranked as high as 17th in the national polls this year, by a score of 2-1.
Early on anyone could tell that the men were ready to play. It took the Bulls only 8:07 to find the back of the net against Kentucky's freshman goalkeeper, Andy Gruenebaum.
Kentucky was able to answer the Bulls, however. A free kick gave the Wildcats the opportunity to work a bit of their own magic. UK's Chris Austin took the kick and was able to hit the head of Senior Monty Frazier.
"When they scored we were very skeptical of their set plays. They have a near post offense with that guy bending that ball that curls right into the front post. Terrible for a back to head it out and terrifically difficult for a goalie," said Bulls Head Coach Jon Astudillo.
Both Buffalo and Kentucky had a few other opportunities to score, but both team's goalkeepers came through to make key saves. Senior goalkeeper Brian Wozniak was able to deny several of Kentucky's attempts to score, and in the final minutes of the first half, Kentucky's keeper Andy Gruenebaum was able to fly across the net to prevent a UB goal.
The first half ended with the game tied at one and the Bulls pumped for the second half of play. Buffalo began the second half with the same intensity they had played all game. Both teams fought hard to score another goal, but only the Bulls would be able to place another one in the net. With less than ten minutes remaining in the game, Jeff Martinko took the corner and sent the ball soaring across the front of the goal. Geoff Thompson's head soared above the rest, heading the ball into the net and earning the game-winning goal.
Kentucky maintained possession of the ball for most of the rest of the game, but UB's defense and desire to win was no match for the Wildcats.
"I knew my team would pull through, they weren't gonna let it slip away," said Wozniak.
Rain fell from the first minute of Friday night's soccer game against Northern Illinois until the last. Unfortunately, the Bulls were not able to mimic Mother Nature's consistency, as they fell 2-1 in double overtime.
Defensive errors left the team scrambling to come back from an early 1-0 deficit. Buffalo was scored on after only 7:22 of play when Northern Illinois' Matt Stukenberg was able to slip the ball past Buffalo's Wozniak. The Huskies continued to work hard throughout the first and second halves, keeping Buffalo from scoring until the 83rd minute of play.
Freshman Michael Battiste chipped a shot in over the Northern Illinois keeper for the first goal of his career.
"I knew I could make the shot because I'm always working on it in practice," said Battiste.
The goal gave the Bulls extra momentum going into overtime play; unfortunately, it would not be enough to pull out the win.
In the fourth minute of the second overtime Northern Illinois' Eric O'Reilly received a ball in the center of the goal and was able to finish the shot.
"I had to do a double take. I just couldn't believe it," said O'Reilly.
It was O'Reilly's first career goal.
As heartbreaking as the loss to the Huskies was, Buffalo chose to look forward to the Kentucky game instead of dwelling on the loss, a decision that seemed to work to their advantage.
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
