Men’s Soccer rolls Niagara 3-0 behind Cicerone brace

The beat goes on for UB Men’s Soccer and star senior Russell Cicerone after tonight’s dominant 3-0 win over Niagara that keeps the Big Four Shield with the Blue and White for at least six more days.

The Bulls move to 7-0-0 on the season with their sixth shutout of the year — keeper Joe Kuta needed only two saves to keep the ledger clean — and Cicerone scored his ninth and tenth goals of the year to go with his sixth assist.

That assist, on Braden Scales’ fifth goal of the year, brought Cicerone into a tie with Steve Butcher for most career assists as a Bull with 19. It’s difficult to see Butcher maintaining a hold on that tie for number one for even another week, as after Sunday’s match at South Florida UB takes on St. Bonaventure. Cicerone has five goals and five assists in three career matches against the Bonnies.

Back to today, the Bulls were in total control throughout, outshooting the Purple Eagles 16-6 and enjoying a man advantage for the final 55 minutes after Zulfikar Karimi was awarded a red card.

Scales continues a back and forth battle with Rikard Linqvist on the UB season stats, today matching the freshman with his fifth goal on the season by converting his only shot, while Rikard was unable to find a goal despite putting all three of his shots on net.

South Florida this Sunday should be UB’s toughest test yet, and their toughest until opening MAC play at Akron in a few weeks. The Bulls opened the season ranked in the top 20, but have fallen out of the rankings and even “also receiving votes” thanks to some middling results, though against a tougher schedule than Buffalo has seen. A win would match UB’s best-ever start in the MAC era, putting the Bulls as 8-0-0 for the first time since 2005.