Bulls Aim To Stay Perfect; Head To Niagara On Thursday With Big 4 Shield On The Line
9/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
BUFFALO, NY – Being the only team in the nation sporting a perfect 6-0-0 record on the year, the University at Buffalo men's soccer team will put their unbeaten record on the line Thursday night in a battle at Big 4 foe Niagara. The Bulls will travel to Niagara for a 7:00 pm match as they will defend the Big 4 Shield that they were able to successfully maintain earlier in the season against Canisius.
The Bulls have garnered some national attention this week as they were able to stay unbeaten on the year, being ranked #2 in the latest Great Lakes Regional poll, their highest regional ranking in program history. The Bulls were also able to gather 51 votes for the NSCAA Top 25 poll, just missing out of the Top 25, coming in at #26 nationally, their highest ranking since 2005 when they were #20 in the nation.
Buffalo is coming off of another perfect weekend as they were able to collect a pair of road victories to move to 6-0-0, their best start to a season since the Bulls started 8-0-0 in 2005. The Bulls picked up a 2-0 victory over VMI on Friday afternoon behind a pair of Braden Scales tallies before downing Liberty in overtime by the score of 2-1 on Sunday. In Sunday's win, the Bulls conceded their first goal of the season as their program record shutout streak to start a season ended at 538:24 minutes.
The Bulls offense is off to a hot start through six matches as they lead the nation in goals with 18 and points with 55 while ranking second in the country in assists with 19. The UB offense is being led by reigning MAC Player of the Year, Russell Cicerone who currently leads the nation in goals (8), points (21), shots on goal per game (3.0) and shots per game (5.67). Freshman Rikard Lindqvist has been a pleasant surprise so far this season as he ranks second on the team with three goals and five assists for 11 points and was featured on Sportscenter's Top-10 plays on Sunday night after his goal off of his corner kick into the upper right corner of the net. Senior Braden Scales has netted four goals and an assist for nine points while Steven Stryker has been solid off the bench, chipping in with four assists.
The stingy Buffalo defense led by, Alec Fisher, Fox Slotemaker, David Enstrom, Austin Place and goalkeeper Joseph Kuta currently leads the nation in shutouts (5) while ranking second in the nation in save % (0.964) and in goals against average (0.16).
Niagara enters Thursday's match with a 1-3-1 overall record as they have dropped two straight matches at home. The Purple Eagles fell 1-0 to Saint Francis last time out and 3-2 to NJIT on Friday night. The Purple Eagles are being led offensively by Mackenzie Roach who has two goals and one assist while three other players each have a goal and assist. Steve Casey has made four starts between the pipes for the Purple Eagles and he owns a 1-2-1 overall record to go along with a 0.95 goals-against average and two shutouts.
After traveling to Niagara to battle their Big 4 foe, the Bulls will travel down to Tampa, FL to take on the South Florida Bulls at 1:00 pm on Sunday, September 18.
