The Bulls opened up Mid-American Conference action last weekend as they traveled to take on #23 Akron. Buffalo came out of the gates quick on Friday night as they had a couple golden opportunities to score early on but couldn’t find the back of the net. After some fortuitist bounces, the Bulls fell 4-0 to the Zips, starting MAC play 0-1-0 for the second straight season.
The Buffalo offense is being paced by the dangerous midfielder Russell Cicerone who continues to lead the nation in scoring with 29 points and ranks second in goals with 11. The senior currently ranks third in the NCAA in assists with seven while also ranking 10th in game-winning goals with three on the year. The Bloomfield Hills, MI native currently sits just two points shy of 100 for his career and is second in the nation among active players for points (98) and goals (39) in a career. If he can notch two more points this season, Cicerone will become just the second UB player and third player in MAC history to record at least 100 points in a career.
Senior captain Braden Scales has had a nice start to his final season in the blue and white as he has notched five goals and an assist for 11 points while freshman Rikard Lindqvist has three goals and five assists for 11 points. Senior forward Steven Stryker has provided a nice spark off the UB bench as he has notched four assists and 10 shots.
The Buffalo back line of Austin Place, Alec Fisher, Fox Slotemaker and David Enstrom have had a strong season so far as they have helped UB preserve seven clean sheets through 12 matches. The Bulls are allowing just 12.6 shots against/game while allowing just 12 goals on the season.
West Virginia enters Saturday’s clash with a 6-4-1 overall record and a 0-1-0 MAC mark after dropping their conference opener to Bowling Green on Friday night, 1-0. The Mountaineers have now dropped three straight matches as they fell 1-0 against #1 Maryland on Monday night at home. The Mountaineers offense is led by Felix Angerer and Jad Arslan who have each notched two goals and an assist for five points while Joey Piatczyc has netted a goal and three assists. The West Virginia defense has paced the team as they are allowing just 0.55 goals/game and 8.5 shots/game. In goal, Jose Santos has been solid as he owns a 6-4-1 record to go along with a 0.53 goals-against average and seven shut outs.
The Bulls will return home following Saturday’s match for three straight matches at UB Stadium, starting with a MAC contest against Western Michigan on Oct. 21 at 7:00 pm.
from UBBulls.com via IFTTT
