BUFFALO — A three-goal second half propelled the University at Buffalo women’s soccer team (3-2-2, 0-0-0 MAC) to a dominant 3-0 victory over Big 4 foe Canisius on Friday night at UB Stadium. The win gives the Bulls a five-game unbeaten streak as they haven’t lost since the opening weekend of the season.
The Bulls had the first great chance of the match in the eighth minute as Carissima Cutrona ripped a left-footed shot that rang off the cross bar over the diving keeper but it was cleared away by the Canisius defense. In the 14th minute, Canisius had a dangerous chance as Maddie Good found the ball right in front of the goal but Gurjeena Jandu blocked the hard shot away, keeping the game scoreless. Celina Carrero had a chance in the 19th minute as Nicole Gerritz made a great run down the right sideline and crossed a great ball into the box where Carrero just missed the left corner of the net. In the 22nd minute, Carissima Cutrona made a great individual effort to get off a left-footed shot that went just wide of the left corner after getting deflected by the Canisius defender.
Julia Benati dazzled the crowd in the 25th minute as she made an outstanding run, dribbling through multiple defenders before finding Jessica Marlowe in front of the net where her right-footed shot missed the low right corner by a foot. Kara Daly entered the game in the 32nd minute and had a scoring chance a minute later but her shot went just wide after a good feed from Julia Benati. Ashley Evans made the defensive play of the opening half in the 44th minute as she blocked a would-be Canisius goal from in close.
The Bulls came out of the gate quick in the second half as Celina Carrero made a great play to the right of the net and she crossed a perfect ball to Julia Benati who ripped a shot that was saved by the sprawling Canisius keeper. Andrea Niper had a hard shot from distance after a great play by Moira Petrie in the 52nd minute that was saved by a diving Canisius keeper. The Bulls finally got on the board in the 59th minute as Nicole Gerritz crossed a great ball into the box where reigning MAC Offensive Player of the Week Carissima Cutrona beat the keeper to the right corner for her sixth goal of the season.
Julia Benati had a hard shot in the 75th minute that forced the Golden Griffins keeper to dive to her right and make a tough save. The Bulls made the score 2-0 in the 80th minute as Julia Benati sent a great corner into the box where senior Andrea Niper headed home her first goal of the season. Just over five minutes later, Julia Benati broke the game open with a rocket into the upper right corner on the free kick from 25-yards out to give the Bulls the 3-0 lead and eventual win.
Inside The Numbers
With the win, the Bulls improve to 3-0-1 at UB Stadium this season. They return to the pitch on Thursday as they travel to Syracuse to take on the Orange. Kickoff is set for 7:00 pm and the match will be streamed live on ESPN3.
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