Men’s Soccer gets big road win, 2-1, at West Virginia

West Virginia’s opening goal ten minutes into tonight’s MAC showdown didn’t bode well for UB Men’s Soccer, who are 0-3-0 and outscored 10-0 on the season when they concede the match’s first.

But Tommy Fogarty-Cameron equalized almost immediately and Scott Doney potted the game-winner later in the first half to stake the Bulls to a 2-1 win in what I’d argue is their finest showing since a 1-0 win against Incarnate Word on Labor Day weekend. No matter how sour a 4-0 loss against Akron is, UB has three points out of two MAC road matches and finally looks like the team that started the season so strong.

The win was atypical for UB not just in that it happened, or that the Bulls came from behind, but also that they found offense from secondary scoring options; both Fogarty-Cameron and Doney found the back of the net for the first time in 2016 with their goals. Russell Cicerone assisted on the equalizer and was the most dangerous player on the pitch all night, but none of his five shots, four of which were on target, found the net.

It’s hard to overstate how big this win was. West Virginia threatened throughout the match, but usually on hyper-aggressive counterattacks which ended in offside flags as often as not, and UB generally controlled the run of play after the early back-and-forth. It’s a showing much like we saw early in the season, when Stu Riddle’s group flirted with a top-25 ranking.

Three road points and Akron in the rearview puts UB in a good spot looking ahead into the few remaining MAC matches. The Bulls get Western Michigan and Northern Illinois at home before closing the season at Bowling Green. As always, I feel a team needs three results to make the MAC Tournament, and with the home/road imbalance working against UB this year, getting one of them away from UB Stadium will prove key.