BUFFALO — After opening up Mid-American Conference action the road last weekend with a pair of losses, the University at Buffalo women’s soccer team (3-5-2, 0-2-0 MAC) will return to UB Stadium, where they are unbeaten this season (3-0-1), on Friday and Sunday for a pair of conference matches. The Bulls will welcome the Bowling Green Falcons on Friday night at 7:00 pm before taking on the Toledo Rockets on Sunday at noon.

The Bulls are coming off of a tough opening MAC weekend in which they dropped a pair of 1-0 road matches at two of the premier teams in the conference. The Bulls were outplayed on Friday night at Ball State but they only fell 1-0 to the Cardinals despite being outshot 20-1 for the match. On Sunday, the Bulls were the better team but they weren’t able to finish their chances as they fell 1-0 at Miami (OH). UB was all over the RedHawks as they held the 12-9 edge in shots and the dominant 15-4 edge in corners for the match.

Leading the Bulls offensive charge this season is redshirt sophomore captain Carissima Cutrona who has netted a career-high six goals and 12 points through 10 matches. Junior captain Julia Benati is having a nice start to her season as the crafty midfielder has netted two goals and two assists for six points while taking a team-high 29 shots. Sophomore Nicole Gerritz has been impressive in the midfield for the Bulls as she has managed a pair of assists while creating multiple dangerous scoring chances for the Buffalo attacking players.

Defensively the Bulls have had a strong start to the season as they are allowing just 1.00 goals-against per game while holding their opponents to 14.0 shots/game. The backline of Adrianna VanCuyck, Angel Hart, Gurjeena Jandu and Ashley Evans have grown stronger as a group over the past month of the season. In goal, Laura Dougall has started eight matches and owns a 2-5-1 overall record while holding a 0.91 goals-against average with two shutouts.

Bowling Green enters Friday’s match with a 6-4-0 overall record to go along with a 1-1 MAC mark. The Falcons opened conference play with a 2-0 win over Ohio before dropping a 1-0 match against Kent State on Sunday. The Falcons are being led offensively by Skylar Fleak who has netted a team-high five goals and one assist for 11 points while Erica Hubert ranks second on the squad with four goals and eight points to go along with 44 shots. In goal, Kathleen Duwve has started the last four matches and she owns a 3-1-0 overall record to go along with a 1.19 goals-against average and two clean sheets.

The Toledo Rockets enter Sunday’s match with a 6-4-0 record and a 1-1-0 conference mark after defeating Ohio 2-1 and falling to Kent State 2-1. Offensively, the Rockets are led by Kiersten Johnson who has netted a team-high five goals and 10 points while Isa Echeverri ranks second on the team with three goals and 22 shots. In goal, Sophomore Katie Wilson has started all 10 matches and owns a 1.20 goals-against average while notching four shutouts.

from UBBulls.com via IFTTT