BUFFALO — Melissa Smith (North Tonawanda/Niagara Wheatfield) found the back of the net in the 80th minute, boosting Buffalo State to its seventh win-in-a-row, a 1-0 victory over visiting Cortland on Saturday afternoon at Coyer Field.
In what could have been a preview for a rematch down the line in the SUNYAC playoffs, Buffalo State and Cortland played an even first half, with the Bengals creating six shots to Cortland’s five.
The Red Dragons started the second half with a big scoring chance of their own, but Taylor Carillo (Pine Bush/Pine Bush) made a big save and the Buffalo State defense blocked the ensuing shot, sending the ball out of harm’s way to keep things scoreless.
Cortland was able to create three shots in the opening five minutes of the half, but Buffalo State turned it on and took over, holding the Red Dragons without a shot for the rest of the match.
Buffalo State created chance after chance, but it wasn’t until Smith gained control of a cross, found for the loose ball, and chipped it home past the Cortland keeper in the 80th minute to give Buffalo State a 1-0 lead.
Even after the goal, the Bengals still kept the pressure on, creating multiple chances on offense instead of falling back into a prevent defense. In the end it was just too much for the Red Dragons and Buffalo State pulled out the win, improving to 10-1-2 on the year, including a perfect-mark of 5-0 in conference play.
Victoria Barclay made eight saves in goal for Cortland in the losing effort. Carillo made four saves in the win, pushing her school-record shutout streak to seven games and extending her school-record scoreless streak to 709 minutes and 55 seconds.
Buffalo State will head to Plattsburgh for a SUNYAC match on Friday.
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