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Cleveland St.
Women's Soccer Drops Exhibition Match To Cleveland State, 3-2
8/11/2015 12:00:00β―AM | Women's Soccer
BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York women's soccer team, defending Mid-American Conference Champions, opened up their 2015 season on Tuesday afternoon with a 3-2 exhibition match loss to the Cleveland State Vikings.
"Today was a good learning experience and the main reason why you have exhibition games," said head coach Shawn Burke. "We are able to get the game on tape against a good Cleveland State team and work on correcting our mistakes. We were able to look at our entire roster for a game and I think some people did really well to earn a spot and other people are going to take a little longer on the learning curve but it was a great learning experience for us today."
The Bulls and Vikings went back and forth during the first of three 30 minute periods on Tuesday as UB had some of their best chances created by redshirt freshman Carissima Cutrona, who had three shots on goal. While on the other side of the pitch, the Vikings were able to make UB starting goalkeeper Laura Dougall make one save in the opening 30 minutes of action.
As the substitutions began rolling in for the Bulls, the Vikings began to click offensively in the second period as they were able to connect on two goals, both off the foot of freshman Toni Dickson. The Bulls began to settle in defensively but allowed the Vikings to take the 3-0 lead early in the third period as McKenna Vento found the back of the net.
With the starters returning midway through the third period, the UB offense found its stride and they were able to score their first goal of the match. Cutrona started the play for UB as she streaked down the right side and found Kassidy Kidd in the middle who fed a perfect pass to a charging Julia Benati who buried a laser into the back of the net past the Cleveland State keeper.
UB made it a one goal game just minutes later as freshman Brianna Shingary found the back of the net, making the score 3-2 in favor of Cleveland State with under five minutes remaining. UB was not able to get the equalizer as they fell 3-2.
Cutrona was the Bulls best offensive threat on Tuesday as she had multiple good chances turned away by the keeper and a rocket of a shot that rang off the cross bar. Freshman Nicole Gerritz had a strong match as well for the Bulls as she created multiple chances and had a couple chances of her own. All three UB goalkeepers, Dougall, Cassie Betancourt and McKenzie White played 30 minutes and made some quality saves for the Bulls.
UB will return to the pitch on Friday, August 21 as they open the regular season on the road against St. Joseph's at 7:00 pm.
