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Film Study: Breaking down Buffalo Men's Soccer's six goals against St. Bonaventure

By Matt Gritzmacher
  • Buffalo 1-0 On a corner kick, UB stations a man at the near post and sends a group of three (including Steven Stryker) towards the far post while Fox Slotemaker presses further forward than he might usually.
  • Buffalo 1-0 The cluster at the top of the box has pulled everyone lower and Slotemaker will have time and space to settle under the ball. Bonaventure has seven defenders and a goale devoted to only three Bulls, and the ball is heading over their heads.
  • Buffalo 1-0 As Fox heads the ball, the two defenders covering three Bulls on the far post leave their men even though it's too late to get to Slotemaker.
  • Buffalo 1-0 The ball makes its way to Steven Stryker, who by this point has already corralled it and has space to pick his shot from inside the 6.
  • Buffalo 1-0 Stryker scores.
  • Buffalo 2-0 I could have started this with the next slide, but this is the second game in a row we've seen this: a Bulls defender/midfielder is looking upfield to play a long ball. Russell Cicerone is a near option.
  • Buffalo 2-0 These two won't play much of a role from here, but Cramarossa's long ball has been sent to an area where UB has numbers, and the ball is in space for the Bulls to maintain possession.
  • Buffalo 2-0 Just kidding. Cicerone swoops in with everyone in the previous picture moving against him and begins to blow by everyone. Braden Scales made his move on the other side of the field at the same time as Russell.
  • Buffalo 2-0 There was plenty of impressive skill between the last one and here, but the end story is Cicerone got the ball into space. Bona's goalie is wary of his shot, Russ has three defenders simultaneously covering him while also playing off, and Scales has only been barely noticed.
  • Buffalo 2-0 I could dump on the Bonaventure defense here, but that would be unfair. Once they gave Russell that much space, he places a perfect pass. Notice where it is: on the edge of the six-yard box, it's too far out for the goalie to dive in front of it, and too far in front of the defenders who had keyed in on Russ.
  • Buffalo 2-0 It's also too far forward of the defender who didn't pay enough attention to Scales. By now it's close to the goal line, but because the keeper was playing the Cicerone-side post so tightly earlier, he can't get over and out quickly enough.
  • Buffalo 3-0 This starts as kind of a mess of a play. I won't break it down too much, but while UB has people in the area they don't look like a good bet to maintain possession here.
  • Buffalo 3-0 After a moment, someone (I think Netskar) gains possession and begins to pull it out into space while Scales runs into the same space.
  • Buffalo 3-0 The ball is dropped to Scales, who's moving against the flow of the crowd, and now not only does UB have strong possession, they've pulled more Bonnies defenders into the ball.
  • Buffalo 3-0 Scales sends the cross in quickly, and Cicerone is more open than this still makes it look. He's got clear position on the man covering him and no one else is within three yards.
  • Buffalo 3-0 Cicerone heads it in on the bounce, and the Bonnies goaltender was frozen on the play despite being close to that post. Perhaps he misread the shot.
  • Buffalo 4-0 This one was ultimately on a penalty kick, but the play that earned the foul was simple. A well-placed pass and an onside run, shown from the beginning here, springs UB into space even without numbers.
  • Buffalo 4-0 UB has the ball and space to advance off that run, and once again Cicerone is only marked by one player on the other side.
  • Buffalo 4-0 This foul ends the play as we see it here, but does earn the Bulls a penalty kick. UB earned a goal here despite being wildly outnumbered no matter your scope.
  • Buffalo 5-0 Cramarossa lines up to take the free kick. and UB sets up roughly 15 yards away from net.
  • Buffalo 5-0 The delivery is low and bouncing, while the Buffalo pack attacks the far post, pinned the goaltender to his left. Notice, though, that the ball is well in front of the crowd.
  • Buffalo 5-0 The ball continues in front of the crowd, and the threat of Cicerone reaching out to put a foot on it keeps the goalie far to his left.
  • Buffalo 5-0 It's in the net, completely untouched, while the goalie hasn't moved his feet.
  • Buffalo 6-0 It's Russell again. Here he's receiving the ball with tons of space, but probably 65 yards from the Bona net.
  • Buffalo 6-0 No one gives him any trouble. Over the next 25 yards, Cramarossa is moving into space on an overlapping run nicely as the Bonaventure defense focuses on Scott Doney.
  • Buffalo 6-0 Ten yards later, Cicerone *still* has space. Cramarossa is still an option and there's also space and a Bull to his right. Doney is in a crowd, but not only are all three defenders shifting their attention from Scott to Russ, one is three yards behind his teammates, leaving plenty of space for the big man to stay onside.
  • Buffalo 6-0 Whoops
  • Buffalo 6-0 Whoops.

I'm kicking myself for not thinking of the Film Study idea earlier in the year, especially since it's only feasible when I have footage I can come back to after games. Fortunately, Men's Soccer put out a highlight video of their own following the 6-0 road win over St. Bonaventure this past weekend.

The story of the box score was the two-goal, three-assist performance from Russell Cicerone, but taking a look at the goals you see time and time again a team that found and took advantage of space in scoring a half-dozen times in the second half. Cicerone was a factor in every single one, including the play that sent him to the dot for a penalty kick and the lone goal that he didn't receive any credit for.

Click through the gallery at the top of this page to see each of UB's six goals, and hover on an image for explanatory captions. These goals were all pretty straightforward this week, so the entirety of the breakdowns are in the captions.

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