Cicerone Leads Men's Soccer Past Big Four Foe St. Bonaventure, 4-0

Tuesday, October 21

7 pm

University at Buffalo

4-8-2 (0-0-2MAC)

St. Bonaventure

1-10-0 (0-3-0A10)

Team	1	2	Final F
St. Bonaventure	0	0	0
Buffalo	3	1	4

Cicerone Leads Men's Soccer Past Big Four Foe St. Bonaventure, 4-0

10/21/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

RUSSELL CICERONE POST MATCH INTERVIEW

BUFFALO, NY – Behind a career-best six point effort by sophomore Russell Cicerone, the State University of New York, Buffalo men's soccer team (4-8-2, 0-0-2 MAC) picked up a convincing 4-0 victory over Big Four rival St. Bonaventure on Tuesday night at UB Stadium. Cicerone finished with two goals and two assists in the victory for the Bulls.

"We are coming together nicely as a team and the players are getting into top form at the right time," said second-year head coach Stu Riddle. "Tonight we were outstanding from start to finish and we will go into MAC play this weekend high in confidence.

Cicerone was unstoppable all night long for UB as he finished off the best game of his young career with two goals and two assists to increase his season totals to eight goals and three assists for 19 points. He finished the game with a season-high seven shots including five on goal.

Not only was Cicerone a force from the opening whistle to the final whistle, but so was junior Marcus Hanson. The Mississauga, Ontario native had his best game of the season in a rain-filled night at UB Stadium as he finished with a season-high three points, one goal and one assist, and was dangerous all night long with five shots and three on goal.

The Bulls opened the scoring in the 10^th minute of action as Hanson took a feed from Cicerone, side stepped the St. Bonaventure goalkeeper and buried the ball in the back of the net for his second of the season.

Just over 13 minutes later, Cicerone increased to Buffalo lead to 2-0 as he used his lightning quickness to force a foul in the box and a penalty kick. On the ensuing PK, Cicerone placed a perfect shot in the right corner of the net, just out of the reach of a diving Jeremy Figler. The penalty kick goal for Cicerone was his third of the season out of four tries, with his lone failed attempt also finding the back of the net on a rebound chance.

The Bulls added another in the 37^th minute as Hanson found a streaking Cicerone down the left sideline who beat the Bonnies backline and had a clear shot on the keeper, beating him to the low left corner of the net for his eighth on the season.

UB headed to the locker room with the dominant 11-6 advantage in shots, including the 6-0 edge in shots on goal.

In the 80^th minute, Sean Young nearly gave UB the 4-0 lead but his rocket from just outside the 18-yard box soared just over the cross bar and out of play. Less than three minutes later, Nicolai Berry picked up his teammate with the fourth goal of the night for UB. Berry took a perfect long cross from Cicerone that led him right in on goal, beating the keeper to the low right corner of the net for his first marker of the season. Berry now has a goal and a team-high four assists on the season.

The UB offense didn't skip a beat with multiple bench players on the field in the final 10 minutes as Zack Compton had an outstanding pass to a streaking Cicerone who just missed the net right, missing out on the opportunity for his first career hat-trick.

The Buffalo defense had their best outing of the season in their non-conference finale as they did not allow a shot to get through to goalkeeper Waleed Cassis. Cassis earned his first clean sheet of the season while the Bulls defense has now posted two. The backline quartet of David Enstrom, Fox Slotemaker, Daniel Cramarossa and Dylan Cope had a hard-nosed 90 minute effort, blocking shots and limiting space for the St. Bonaventure attack all night long.

For the game, the Bulls completed dominated the Bonnies as they held the 26-8 advantage in shots and the 15-0 edge in shots on goal. UB had seven players with at least one shot on goal for the game. Young played well as he finished with four shots while Alec Fisher and Nicolay Netskar each finished with two shots in the Bulls fourth victory of the season.

UB returns to the pitch on Saturday, October 25 as they play host to MAC foe Northern Illinois at 9:00 pm inside UB Stadium. The game for Buffalo will mark their final home contest of the regular season and they will honor their three senior as part of senior night.