Men's Soccer Falls To Big Four Rival Niagara, 2-1

Friday, September 12

7 pm

University at Buffalo

1-4-0

Niagara

2-3-0

BUF

Niagara University

Men's Soccer Falls To Big Four Rival Niagara, 2-1

9/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer

Box Score

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, NY – The University at Buffalo men's soccer team (1-4-0, 0-0-0 MAC) fell on the road to Big Four rival Niagara on Friday night at Niagara Field by the score of 2-1. Niagara improves to 2-3 on the season and picked up the inaugural victory for the Buffalo Shield.

"We switched off twice in the first half and were punished both times," said second-year head coach Stu Riddle. "Our second half display was terrific but we weren't able to get ourselves out of the hole we dug for ourselves."

Trailing 2-0 midway through the second half, sophomore Russell Cicerone was awarded a penalty shot and he did not miss his chance to bring the Bulls within striking distance. The Bloomfield, MI native buried the penalty kick goal for his team-leading third marker of the season.

The Purple Eagles started the scoring in the 16^th minute as Andrew Ferguson took a give-and-go pass from Fabrizio Chiari and beat Cameron Hogg low and to the right corner. 13 minutes later Niagara extended their lead to 2-0 as Coleton Long scored a header goal after a perfect corner kick from Ferguson.

For the game, the two sides each had eight shots while the Bulls held the slim 8-6 advantage in corner kicks. Niagara was led by Ferguson who finished the contest with a goal and an assist.

Cicerone led the UB offense with four shots including two on goal while Braden Culver, Sean Young, Abdulla Al-Kalisy and Kristian Lee-Him also recorded a shot for Buffalo. Hogg made three saves in his second career contest for the Bulls.

The Bulls will return to the pitch on Sunday as they will travel to take on Big Four foe Canisius College at 7:00 pm at the Demske Sports Complex.