Buffalo Bulls Soccer Roundup: Finishing up the Regular Season

I have written a TON about both soccer teams this weekends, so this week's roundup will be more of a links dump than usual.

To briefly sum it up: the women won twice more to clinch the MAC Regular Season championship and the #1 seed in the three-round conference tournament. Senior Katie Roberts leads the conference in goals and is #2 in points. Freshman goaltender Laura Dougall is second in the nation in save percentage, has set a UB record for shutouts in a season, and is well below the MAC record for GAA, though Western Michigan's Stephanie Heber is a hair ahead of her.

The men have gotten results in all three MAC contests so far and sit in great position to clinch a spot in the conference tournament, four points ahead of NIU and Bowling Green with two games to play. Sophomore Russell Cicerone had a massive week against St. Bonaventure and NIU and is now second in the MAC with ten goals on the year.

Men's Soccer - 5-8-2 (1-0-2) - 3rd place MAC

Saturday: Defeated Northern Illinois, 2-1

Russell Cicerone scored twice and UB enjoyed an easy end to a physical game after the Huskies suffered two red cards and went down to nine men. Waleed Cassis, Vinny DiVirgilio, and Kristian Lee-Him enjoyed a win in their last game on UB Stadium turf.

Buffalo Bulls Men's Soccer: Senior Salutes - Bull Run
It's already Senior Night season. For men's soccer seniors Waleed Cassis, Vinny DiVirgilio, and Kristian Lee-Him, tonight is their last game at UB Stadium.

UB Volleyball, Men's Soccer teams collect home wins Saturday night - Bull Run
If you stuck around after the football game for the rest of the UB evening, you were treated to twin victories tonight from the volleyball and men's soccer teams over MAC opponents.

Men's Soccer Defeats Northern Illinois, 2-1; Remain Unbeaten In Conference Action - Buffalo

Combine Cicerone's two-goal night with his earlier two-goal, two-assist performance against St. Bonaventure and you have a sophomore honored by both the MAC and UB as Athlete of the Week:

MAC Announce Men's Soccer Player of the Week (It's one of ours) - Bull Run
Russell Cicerone earns MAC Men's Soccer Player of the Week honors after scoring four goals and two assists in two games for UB. Congrats Russ!

Soccer teams sweep UB Athletes of the Week - Bull Run
UB's Athletes of the Week combined for seven goals in four wins over the last seven days. They also sit first and second in their respective conference scoring races. congrats Katie and Russell!

Russell Cicerone Tabbed MAC Player Of The Week - Buffalo

Cicerone And Roberts Named Athletes of the Week - Buffalo

The Mid-American Conference - MAC Announce Men's Soccer Player of the Week

Finally, FC Buffalo did a nice roundup piece of their players currently in the collegiate ranks, spotlighting Cicerone, Cassis, and Marcus Hanson.

College update: Cicerone, Thomas, Coach all shine – FC Buffalo - Bull Run

Stats

Cicerone now has ten goals on the year, good for second in the MAC and most by a Bull since 1999, when Steve Butcher had 14 and Tim Songer 11. Between then and now, there's more than one season when the entire UB team didn't manage ten goals.

This Week in Bull

UB (RPI 154, MR 160) has just one game on the weekend, a road trip to West Virginia (34, 54), but we'll also be keeping our eyes on Western Michigan at Bowling Green, and Akron at Northern Illinois. Each team needs a win and a tie just to catch UB's current five points, so a loss by either goes a long way to officially securing Buffalo in the MAC tournament. It gets even better knowing that they play each other in the season finale.

Women's Soccer - 12-2-3 (8-0-2) - 1st place MAC

You must have heard it by now, but they're doing pretty good. This weekend UB played one even half that ended in an unfortunate Ball State penalty kick goal, and then three halves in which they controlled Ball State and Miami up and down (mostly up) the field on their way to six points and the MAC regular season championship.

Friday: Defeated Ball State 2-1

UB can come from behind! Ball State became just the second team on the year to score first on the Bulls, and I believe only the third to score in the first half. But Buffalo put in a second-half performance that should put the rest of the conference on notice en route to a 2-1 come-from-behind-victory.

UB Women's Soccer tops Ball State in Overtime behind two goals from Katie Roberts - Bull Run
Ball State joined nationally-ranked Virginia Tech as the only teams to score first on UB and their stellar defense, but Katie Roberts broke through after a 25-minute UB barrage in the second half...

Roberts Penalty Kick Goal Lifts Women’s Soccer Over Ball State In Overtime, 2-1 - Buffalo

Sunday: Defeated Miami 2-0

Miami's Kelsey Dinges came into this match tied with Katie Roberts for the MAC scoring lead, and left after not doing much of anything for ninety minutes as UB claimed the MAC regular season crown and Roberts moved into sole position atop the conference tables.

It was Senior Day for the Bulls who honored eight members - the fourth-largest class of any UB team in 2014-15.

Buffalo Bulls Women's Soccer: Senior Salutes - Bull Run

UB Women's Soccer Claims Regular Season MAC Title with Dominant Sunday Win over Miami - Bull Run
The dream season continues for UB Women's Soccer, who continue to steamroll MAC opposition after a lopsided 2-0 victory over MAC #2 Miami Sunday afternoon.

Women’s Soccer Clinches Regular Season MAC Championship In 2-0 Win Over Miami - Buffalo

Boone Enser has done a great job for UB this year with his videos, and has the highlights from the victory in front of the year's biggest crowd.

Women's Soccer MAC Regular Season Championship Highlights - Buffalo

Like Cicerone, Katie Roberts was honored by both the MAC and Buffalo for her three-goal weekend. It was her third Player of the Week Award from the MAC on the season.

The Mid-American Conference - MAC Announces Women's Soccer Players of the Week

Katie Roberts Named MAC Offensive Player Of The Week - Buffalo

Katie Roberts named MAC Offensive PotW - Bull Run
Katie had three more goals for UB this weekend to bring her season total up to a MAC-leading 10.

Soccer teams sweep UB Athletes of the Week - Bull Run
UB's Athletes of the Week combined for seven goals in four wins over the last seven days. They also sit first and second in their respective conference scoring races. congrats Katie and Russell!

Cicerone And Roberts Named Athletes of the Week - Buffalo

Stats

A real look at all the stats flying around Women's Soccer would take a whole post, so I did that. One stat that didn't make it in: Roberts and sophomore Celina Carrero have combined for 16 goals on the year - more than the entire 2013 team.

UB Women's Soccer Record Watch - Bull Run
With one regular season match left before the MAC Tournament and further competition, the 2014 UB Women's Soccer team is about ready to cement themselves in both the UB and MAC record books.

On a team scale, UB got a big RPI bump from their wins over two top MAC teams, and have now cracked the top 50:

Women’s Soccer Makes Big Jump In RPI Rankings; Ranked 47th In Country - Buffalo

Around the MAC

Buffalo (RPI 47, MR 66) has a lone regular season match left, Thursday against Akron (RPI 245, MR 242) at 3:00 PM, and will then host their MAC Quarterfinal match on Sunday. It's a total boondoggle as to who it could be: Without looking at the actual games or tiebreakers, in theory any of the six teams between Kent State and Ohio could sneak or fall to the eight spot. Those six teams are 0-5-1 against UB this year:

Go Bulls!