Men's Soccer Defeats Northern Illinois, 2-1; Remain Unbeaten In Conference Action

Saturday, October 25

9 pm

University at Buffalo

5-8-2 (1-0-2MAC)

Northern Illinois

3-7-5 (0-2-1MAC)

Team	1	2	Final F
Northern Illinois	0	1	1
Buffalo	1	1	2

Men's Soccer Defeats Northern Illinois, 2-1; Remain Unbeaten In Conference Action

10/25/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

JUNIOR MARCUS HANSON POST MATCH INTERVIEW

BUFFALO, NY - The State University at New York, Buffalo men's soccer team (5-8-2, 1-0-2 MAC) picked up their second straight victory on Saturday night as they downed the Northern Illinois Huskies by the score of 2-1. Russell Cicerone notched a pair of goals for the Bulls once again in the victory.

"Russell showed his class and potential tonight," stated second-year head coach Stu Riddle. "I'm not sure there are many players at this level that are capable of scoring goals of the caliber that he did tonight. It was a very important win and I am very pleased for the team and more specifically the seniors. We made hard work of it for a small duration in the second half but I was delighted that we managed to come away with three points."

Cicerone continued to impress on Saturday night in front of the home crowd at UB Stadium as he collected his second consecutive two goal effort in the win. Cicerone scored a pair of highlight reel markers as he now has four goals in his last two contests. For the season, the sophomore ranks second in the Mid-American Conference with 10 goals.

The Bulls got on the board first in what turned out to be a very chippy match as Cicerone took a loose ball just inside the midfield logo and worked his way just outside the 18-yard box. Cicerone then took a blast of a shot that beat the diving Northern Illinois keeper to the top left corner of the net.

Halftime struck with the Bulls holding the commanding 9-5 advantage in shots while the defense held the Huskies to zero shots on goal.

Cicerone came out flying in the second half and he was able to give the Bulls the 2-0 lead early on in the second half as he found the back of the net in the 54th minute. Marcus Hanson started the play with a pretty feed to Cicerone who took a rocket shot that went through the outstretched hands of the Huskies keeper and into the top right corner of the net. The assist for Hanson tied him with Nicolai Berry for first on the team with four assists on the season.

After the second UB goal, the Huskies got alittle chippy as they were awarded four yellow cards and two red cards in the final 37 minutes. In the 60th minute of action, Huskies leading scorer Issac Kannah scored his fourth goal of the season a a low hard shot into the left corner of the net, just past the diving UB keeper.

Over the next 10 minutes, the Huskies were awarded a pair of red cards which allowed the Bulls to play the final 20 minutes two players up on the field, 11 versus nine.

The UB backline of Daniel Cramarossa, Fox Slotemaker, David Enstrom and Dylan Cope finished out the final 20 minutes strong as they helped Waleed Cassis earn the victory.

Offensively, Cicerone led the way with eight shots including five on goal while Hanson finished off his impressive night with five shots and a assist. Berry came off the bench and recorded three shots while Sean Young finished with two shots in the win.

For the match, the Bulls held the 20-13 advantage in shots as well as the 8-5 lead in corner kicks. In goal, Cassis made three saves in his fourth victory while his counterpart made seven saves in the losing effort.

Three seniors, Kristian Lee-Him, Vinny DiVirgilio and Cassis, all earned victories in their final regular season match at UB Stadium.

UB returns to the pitch on Saturday, November 1 as they travel to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers at 7:00 pm.