BUFFALO — The University at Buffalo men’s soccer team (7-1-0, 0-0-0 MAC) aims to defend the Big 4 Shield on Wednesday night at UB Stadium as they play host to the St. Bonaventure Bonnies. The winner of the match on Wednesday will etch their name on the Big 4 Shield and if UB is able to do so, it will be the second consecutive season they were able to win the Shield. Admission to Wednesday night’s match is free.
This is the final match this season with the Big 4 Shield at risk as the Bulls collected victories over Canisius and Niagara earlier this season to retain the Shield.
Buffalo is coming off of a 1-1 week in which they were handed their first loss of the season on the road Sunday at South Florida. The Bulls downed the Niagara Purple Eagles 3-0 on Thursday night to retain the Big 4 Shield before falling in Tampa to the USF Bulls, 3-0. The 7-1-0 start to the season is the second best in program history as UB started 8-0-0 in 2005.
The potent UB offense leads the nation with 21 goals on the year and they are led by reigning MAC Player of the Year Russell Cicerone who leads the NCAA in scoring with 10 goals and 26 points on the year. The dynamic playmaker is tied for the program-lead in assists with 19 in his career while ranking second in goals (38) and points (95) over his outstanding four-year career.
Cicerone is not the only UB player producing on the scoresheet this season as senior captain Braden Scales has netted a career-high five goals and assist for 11 points and freshman Rikard Lindqvist has scored three goals and five assists for 11 points. Steven Stryker has also chipped in with four assists off the bench while a pair of defenders, David Enstrom and Austin Place, have each netted a goal and assist for three points.
The Buffalo defense has been a strong point of the team all season long as the starting backline of David Enstrom, Fox Slotemaker, Austin Place and Alec Fisher have helped UB allow just four goals on the year. Between the pipes, Joseph Kuta is having a career year as the junior owns a 7-1-0 record to go along with a 0.50 goals-against average and an NCAA-high six cleansheets.
St. Bonaventure enters Wednesday’s Big 4 match against the Bulls with a 1-5-1 overall record after downing Niagara 1-0 last time out. Prior to Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Niagara, the Bonnies had lost four straight matches.
The Bonnies are being led offensively by freshman Jacob Dyck who has notched two goals and five shots while earning three starts this season. Kieran Toland and Kosi Nwafornso each have notched a goal while Paul Afful leads the team with 14 shots on the year. Between the pipes, the Bonnies have used two keepers as Luke Iacobellis has earned five starts and owns a 2.87 goals-against average while Alex Olday has two starts and owns a 0.50 goals-against average and a clean sheet.
The Bulls will return to the road on Saturday as they head to Binghamton to take on the Bearcats at 7 p.m.
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
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