Men's Soccer Stays Unbeaten On England Tour; Defeats Stoke City U21, 3-1
3/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Nicolay Netskar Post Match Interview
STOKE, ENGLAND - Facing their toughest test of their Tour of England to date, the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York men's soccer team overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit to defeat Stoke City U21 by the score of 3-1. Russell Cicerone continued to shine for the Bulls as he finished off the win with a goal and two assists.
"We're starting to see this team really come together," said head coach Stu Riddle. "We saw a group of men out there today, working and battling for each other and they got a huge win that was richly deserved."
The Bulls had the first opportunity to score the first goal of the match in the eighth minute as Fox Slotemaker took a hard shot on goal that was turned away at the last second by the Stoke City goalkeeper.
After a fairly even opening 30 minutes of action, Stoke City broke through with the first goal of the match as they broke down the right sideline and crossed a ball into the box where the Stoke City striker beat Cameron Hogg. There was confusion on the play for the Bulls defense as players stopped after they believed the ball had gone out of bounds on the right sideline but was not whistled by the referee.
The Bulls trailed 1-0 at half but the confident bunch didnt waver off their course to stay unbeaten on their Tour of England. After an inspirational halftime speech by coach Riddle, the Bulls came out flying in the second half and were rewarded quickly with a goal. Senior Nicolay Netskar headed in his first goal of the tour after a perfect corner kick off the foot of Cicerone.
Just three minutes later, Cicerone gave the Bulls the 2-1 lead after he was taken down just outside the box, setting up a free kick from 25 yards out. Cicerone set the ball up and buried a perfectly placed bullet into the top right corner of the net. The goal for Cicerone was his fourth in three games for the Bulls, returning to his dominant form from a season ago.
The Bulls continued to press and were rewarded with another goal to put the game out of reach, 3-1. The play started with Cicerone once again as he placed a perfect cross into the box where Scott Doney headed home his third goal of the tour. Doney now has a pair of header goals while Cicerone has four goals and three assists in three matches in England.
The Bulls stingy backline duo of Slotemaker and David Enstrom continued to play at a high level for the Bulls as they conceaded only one goal while limiting a very talented Stoke City U21 squad to only a pair of shots on goal.
Buffalo continues to grow as a team as they had their best performance of the tour to give them a unblemished 3-0 record. Next up for the Bulls is a showdown with FirstPoint USA at 4:00 pm local time.
