"I think it's the type of game that in the first two years of my being here we might've ended up losing that match."
Coming from the head coach, that's not a bad soundbite to hear after Men's Soccer's 3-1 victory over Belmont at UB Stadium this afternoon that moved the Bulls to 2-0-0 on the year.
With the victory and the season-opening win on Friday night, UB has opened the season with a pair of wins for the first time since 2008. Russell Cicerone and sophomores Nick Forrester and Scott Doney all scored their first goals of 2015 in the win.
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Buffalo found its groove after a slow early going with six shots and a corner kick in a twelve-minute span midway through the first, then broke the game open with a pair of goals in the span of 70 seconds in the half's dying minutes. Forrester scored his first goal as a Bull off a pretty cross from Marcus Hanson at 39 minutes, only for Cicerone to make it 2-0 moments later, heading in a bit of a broken play after a throw in hit Scott Doney and Steven Stryker inside the box.
Doney narrowly missed a chance to add to UB's lead after the break, but instead it was Belmont who scored the game's third goal to make it 2-1. The Bruins would control play for a good stretch of the second half before Doney was able to ice the game away with his first goal as a Bull, once again on a cross from Hanson.
As a team, UB generated fifteen shots, while getting five on goal. Last season the Bulls had little trouble generating shots, but had a low success rate in translating those attempts into goals. Today, three goals on fifteen shots is a rate that any team would be happy to have. Cameron Hogg, once again getting the start, made five saves on the day. Buffalo's five goals on the season have been scored by five different players.
Buffalo will play their third game in five days Tuesday night, when they host Canisius at UB Stadium at 7:00. The Golden Griffins, who topped UB 1-0 last year, opened their season with a 1-0 win over NJIT this afternoon.