Buff State drew Plattsburgh today 0-0 at Plattsburgh, not a bad result considering they were upset yesterday by Potsdam. Although Potsdam took St. Lawrence into OT earlier this week. Good results for the other schools, glad to see UB doing well and Canisius starting to turn the corner.
Results from Sunday, October 14, 2007: Canisius 3 - Marist 0 Canisius won its third straight game and improved its record in the Metro Atlantic Conference to 3-0 for the first time in school by thumping Marist 3-0 today. Alan McGreal scored 2 goals to lead the Golden Griffins (4-7-0, 3-0 MAAC) while Chris Carpenter also tallied for Canisius. McGreal now has 8 goals and 3 assists in '07, and leads Canisius into an important match at Fairfield next Friday. Niagara 1 - Siena 1 Niagara tied Siena 1-1 today, as Miles Patterson scored the lone goal for the Purple Eagles (2-7-2, 1-2-1 MAAC). St. Bonaventure 3 - Charlotte 2 (OT) Nikola Vasilev scored the game-winner for the Bonnies (4-4-1, 1-1 A-10). Medaille 2 - Penn State-Altoona 0 Medaille knocked off conference leader Penn State-Altoona 2-0 today, and now remains the only unbeaten team in the AMCC. Kendell McFayden and Gary Boughton each scored for Medaille (12-1-2, 5-0-1 AMCC), who now holds their own destiny in the race for the regular season crown and home field advantage in the conference tournament. The Mavs outshot Altoona (12-3, 6-1 AMCC) by a 17-8 margin , while J.J. Bilinski earned the shutout. The Mavs travel to Pitt-Bradford on Wednesday.
Results from Wednesday, October 17, 2007: Medaille 4 - Pitt-Bradford 2 Gary Boughton tallied 2 goals and 1 assist, and Kendell McFayden added two assists as Medaille remained unbeaten in the AMCC. Medaille (13-1-2, 6-0-1 AMCC) closes out the regular season with road contests at Pitt-Greensburg and Lake Erie College, and if the Mavs win one of those games, they clinch the regular season title and homefield for the playoffs. Fredonia 1 - Buffalo State 0 Buffalo State (8-6-2, 5-4-1 SUNYAC) fell to Fredonia on a 66th minute goal by Peter Dagel. Buffalo State travels to Geneseo to close out the regular season, with the winner likely earning the final SUNYAC playoff slot (only the top 6 teams qualify).
Buffalo = Home of the Super Sophomore In 2007, the collegiate soccer teams of the Buffalo area are lead by some dynamic sophomores. As I sit procrastinating in my office, I thought I'd give a shout-out to these super sophs. Gary Boughton, MF, Medaille (11 g, 17 a) Dan Bulley, F, Buffalo (5 g, 2 a) Alex Marrello, MF, Buffalo (3 g, 5 a) Kendell McFayden, F, Medaille (11 g, 7 a) Alan McGreal, MF, Canisius (8 g, 3 a) Josh Meier, D, Medaille (10 g, 3 a) Robert Shuttleworth, GK, Buffalo (7-1-2, 1.03 gaa) Sean Vella, D, Canisius (1 g, 10 starts)
Results from October 19, 2007: Fairfield 2 - Canisius 1 Despite Alan McGreal's 9th goal of the season, the Golden Griffins fell away to Fairfield this afternoon. Canisius falls to 4-8-0 (3-1-0 MAAC) and faces Iona on Sunday. Niagara 1 - Iona 0 Freshman Levi Tesch scored his first career goal to lead Niagara to a win at Iona. Niagara improves to 3-7-2 (1-2-1 MAAC) and faces Fairfield on Sunday.
Buffalo 2 - Northern Illinois 1 (OT) Dan Bulley scored twice, including the game winner in overtime, to lead Buffalo to a 2-1 win over Northern Illinois. This means that UB (9-3-2, 3-0 MAC) can clinch the MAC regular season title with a win at home against Akron next Friday night.
Medaille 3 - Pitt-Greensburg 0 Medaille's win, coupled with Altoona's loss to Behrend, gives the Mavs the AMCC regular season title and homefield advantage for the playoffs. Medaille's regular season finale at Lake Erie becomes moot since the Mavs boast a record of 7-0-1 in conference play (14-1-2 overall) and every other team in the conference has at least two losses. Congrats to Medaille on another conference championship! Buffalo State 1 - Geneseo 1 (Buffalo State wins 4-2 on penalty kicks) Buffalo State and Geneseo tied 1-1, but because they were deadlocked in the SUNYAC standings, the game went to penalty kicks to decide who earned the playoff berth. Buffalo State prevailed 4-2 on penalties and lives to play another day, in this case at Cortland on Tuesday.
Results from Sunday, October 21, 2007: Niagara 3 - Fairfield 2 Iona 3 - Canisius 0 Since the season is winding down, it's probably important to note how these teams are doing in their respective conferences, so here's the breakdown: Division 1 Buffalo, 9-3-2 (3-0 MAC, 1st place) Canisius, 4-9-0 (3-2 MAAC, 5th place) Niagara, 4-7-2 (2-2-1 MAAC, tied for 6th place) St. Bonaventure, 5-4-1 (1-1 Atlantic 10, tied for 5th place) Division 3 Medaille, 14-1-2 (7-0-1 AMCC, clinched 1st place) Buffalo State, 8-6-3 (5-4-2 SUNYAC, clinched 5th place)
There have been some good results this year by local sides. I've been happy and hopefully this means we can get some good recruits for Queen City this year without having to traverse the country as we did last year. BTW in the SUNYAC, all tied matches go to PK's for playoff seeding purposes. Geneseo still made the playoffs as Oneonta won the regular season title but are ineligible for post-season play due to their probation period (moving from Division 1 to Division 3..I think this is the 2nd year of their probation so next year they are eligible). Buffalo State is at Cortland, and Geneseo is at Brockport next week. Fredonia and Plattsburgh have byes into the semi-finals as they were the top two seeds in the playoff eligible teams. McGreal is a fantastic player at Canisius. I was the GK coach there 3 years ago when he was ineligible to play, he did train with us and was by far one of the top players. I'm glad to see he is doing so well. He's a nice kid too. Also great to see UB doing so well. HOpefully they can keep it up. Appearantly they had a scare this year that the team might be dropped and were reaching out to the community to see if they could get some support behind them. I just found this out the other day. It would be sad to see them go as the are most legitimate Div 1 program of the 4 in the area in my mind.
Keem, I know that UB did a study (called the "Corrigan Report" after former Notre Dame AD Gene Corrigan, who led the survey) in which they examined the state of Buffalo athletics at the Division 1 level. The committee recommended a possible downsizing of some programs if UB wants to become more economically viable as well as successful. However, I believe that no teams were in danger of being axed, at least I seem to recall Athletics Director Warde Manuel saying that things were much improved and that no programs would be dropped. The football team is bringing in more revenue than ever before (largely because they'll travel anywhere for a large payout, hence games at Auburn, Boston College, Penn State, and Wisconsin in the past two years). Soccer was not listed as one of the "relevant" core sports on which to base the athletics program, however soccer was also not listed as one to eliminate (baseball was singled out as troublesome). The only mention of soccer in the report was that it had been a successful program in terms of competitiveness. The report suggested adding lacrosse and hockey because of their regional appeal, but again, no mention was made of dropping soccer. Here's the report if you care to peruse it. http://www.ubathletics.buffalo.edu/headlines/news/CorriganReport.pdf That being said, there certainly can be a difference between public and private discussions about UB athletics. I would be surprised if soccer was dropped only because it had been one of UB's more successful programs. The men's team has consistently been one of the top 3 teams in the MAC for the past three seasons. Baseball, on the other hand, is terrible and draws no fans. Buffalo's horrible weather makes it nearly impossible to fit in many home baseball games, and according to some kids I knew on the team, the players and coaches are completely dysfunctional. Soccer, on the other hand, uses UB Stadium (minimal up-keep) and has drawn some decent attention from the student body. I sure hope they don't drop the program, because it's really grown over the past few years. Okay, I'll stop rambling now... By the way, thanks for the correction on the SUNYAC, I had no idea the conference worked that way. Also, QCFC should try to sign McGreal, the kid is fantastic! He has 9 goals and 3 assists this season, won the MAAC Rookie of the Year in 2006 (with 6 goals, 4 assists), and his 15 career goals already ranks 9th all-time at Canisius. How'd he end up at Canisius, anyway? Glad to hear he's a good kid, thanks for the firsthand info!
Hax, Interesting report on UB. I had heard through second-hand sources that UB was going to youth clubs asking for them to support the program and write the AD due to the possible dropping of their side. Other than that I don't know too much, I don't live there anymore and am in town once a week to take care of QCFC things that I am responsible for in person. I would love to get McGreal from Canisius, from what his coach tells me he doesn't like the area that much so he wants to get home during the summer. Don't know if that is true or not (we'll see if he ends up at Albany Admirals this summer as the head coach at Canisius and his brother at UB have a connection with that program and sent their players there last year instead of supporting us). They originally recruited 3 irish players the year I volunteered there. All three were ruled ineligible by the NCAA and one went home, one went to Daemen College to get some games and classes so he'd be eligible (he left anyway after the semester), and McGreal stayed at Canisius and trained with the team.
Result from Tuesday, October 23, 2007: Medaille 3 - Lake Erie 0 Medaille wrapped up another undefeated AMCC campaign, finishing as regular season champions for the third straight season, as they defeated Lake Erie by a 3-0 score. Kendell McFayden, Jared Reisdorf, and Brett Bridges all found net for Medaille (15-1-2, 7-0-1 AMCC). The Mavs will host the winner of the Frostburg vs. La Roche game in the semifinals of the AMCC tournament on Halloween at 2 pm. Either game could be dangerous as Frostburg tied Medaille 1-1 earlier in the season and La Roche gave Medaille all they could handle in a 2-1 Mavs win.
Results from Friday, October 26, 2007: Akron 1 - Buffalo 0 On a cool, rainy night in Buffalo, Akron likely clinched the MAC regular season crown and homefield for the playoffs (barring an upset loss to Western Michigan next weekend). Akron's Matt Tutich scored the game's lone goal at the 50 minute mark when Daniel Bell gave up a rebound that Tutich slotted home. It was very slick out there, but perhaps that was a shot that Bell could've held? Irregardless, Buffalo created absolutely nothing offensively, tallying 5 shots while the Zips had 12. Buffalo falls to 9-4-2 (3-1 MAC) while Akron improves to 11-3-2 (3-0-1 MAC). A group of Akron students made the trip, probably because the two schools square off tomorrow in football too. Maybe Turner Gill's football team will have better success than the soccer team... Canisius 2 -Manhattan Alan McGreal scored his 10th goal of the season, and Simba Aberdeen scored the gamewinner in the 67th minute as Canisius topped Manhattan 2-1 tonight. Canisius improves to 5-9 (4-2 MAAC) while Manhattan falls to 2-11-2 (0-5-1 MAAC). Saint Peter's 1 - Niagara 0 (OT) Murphy Wiredu scored the gamewinner, his 10th goal of '07, for Saint Peter's (11-3-1, 4-1-1 MAAC), who will face Canisius on Sunday afternoon. Niagara falls to 4-8-2 (2-3-1 MAAC) but hosts woeful Manhattan on Sunday. Preview: Saint Peter's at Canisius, Sunday, 1 pm This game will feature two of the nation's top scorers in Canisius sophomore Alan McGreal (10 goals, 3 assists) and Saint Peter's senior Murphy Wiredu (10 goals, 4 assists). The game is also between two teams near the top of the table in the Metro Atlantic Conference.
Results from Sunday, October 28, 2007: Canisius 4 - St. Peter's 3 (OT) On a windy and cool afternoon in Buffalo, Alan McGreal tallied one goal and three assists, setting up Sean Vella's game winner, as Canisius rallied to beat St. Peter's in overtime. Canisius (5-9, 5-2 MAAC) received a clutch performance from McGreal, who sent Simba Aberdeen on a great through ball in the 85th minute to tie the match at 3-3. In the overtime period, McGreal sent a curving freekick into the box that Vella flicked past the keeper for the win. McGreal now has 11 goals and 6 assists on the season, and Canisius moved up to 2nd place in the Metro Atlantic. Murphy Wiredu recorded his 11th goal of the season in the loss. Along with Loyola's Phil Bannister (10 g, 3 a) and Milos Kocic (13-3, 0.69 gaa, 10 so), McGreal has to be one of the frontrunners for conference MVP, he is having a fantastic season. In other local action: Niagara 2 - Manhattan 1 Niagara improves to 5-8-2 (3-3-1 MAAC) with the win over woeful Manhattan (2-13-2, 0-6-1 MAAC). La Salle 1 - St. Bonaventure 0 The Bonnies (5-6-1, 2-3 A-10) have dropped two straight conference matches by a 1-0 scoreline as they lost to Fordham on Friday. They'll try to right the ship next weekend against Richmond and GW. AMCC Semifinals Set Frostburg defeated La Roche 1-0 and Altoona beat Lake Erie 2-0 in the AMCC quarterfinals, setting up the following semifinal matches on Wednesday: Frostburg at Medaille Altoona at Behrend Medaille has a chance to exact some revenge on Frostburg, the only team to tie the Mavs in conference play. The conference final will be played next Saturday at the highest remaining seed.
Result from October 30, 2007: SUNYAC Quarterfinal: Cortland 3 - Buffalo State 3: Cortland wins on penalties 4-2 In a heartbreaking way to end the season, Buffalo State fell to Cortland on penalty kicks this afternoon. Despite leading 1-0 at halftime, Buffalo State trailed Cortland late, scoring an own goal to fall behind 3-2 with just 3 minutes left in regulation. The Bengals managed to rally and score the equalizer with 1 minute left on the clock. Following a scoreless overtime, penalty kicks sealed the game. Buffalo State concludes a solid season (8-6-4, 5-4-2 SUNYAC) in which it qualified for the conference playoffs for just the 3rd time since 1984 (the Bengals qualified in 1998, 2004, and 2007).
Tough result for Buffalo. I really thought they would win vs Akron @ home after some impressive road results...
good year from Buffalo State. Made me happy to be an alum of the program. I was involved in both the past two playoff teams as a player and a coach and thought this team was very good. They are super young and only graduate two players off this team. Finally two good teams in the city with Medaille and Buffalo State. Kudos to coach Rudy and QCFC player Christian Elizondo on an excellent year.
Result from Wednesday, October 31, 2007: AMCC Semifinal: Medaille 3 - Frostburg 0 Medaille advanced to the AMCC championship game by beating Frostburg this afternoon. Kendell McFayden scored 2 goals and had 1 assist for the Mavs, who will face Penn State-Behrend, a 1-0 winner over PSU-Altoona in the other semifinal. The Buffalo News had an article about Medaille in today's paper: Medaille Looks Beyond AMCC Title The AMCC championship will be: Saturday, November 3, 6 pm All High Stadium, Buffalo, NY #2 Penn State-Behrend (12-4-3, 7-2 AMCC) at #1 Medaille (16-1-2, 8-0-1 AMCC)
A link to the front page story in today's Buffalo News sports section on Buffalo State men's soccer player Peter Anthony: First couple paragraphs: Ask most college athletes how they ended up at their particular school and you’ll hear stories of recruiting, finding the right coach and the desire to help rebuild a program. But ask sophomore Peter Anthony how he ended up playing soccer at Buffalo State and you’ll get an entirely different type of tale. “Ah, actually it’s a long story,” he said. “My name is Peter Anthony and I was born in the Sudan.”
Results from November 2-4, 2007: A terrible weekend for the Buffalo area soccer teams who went a collective 0-6. Buffalo (9-5-2, 3-2) * Saturday, lost to Hartwick: 1-2 Up next: Canisius on Wednesday (11/07) Canisius (6-11-0, 5-4-0 MAAC) * Friday, lost at Loyola: 0-3 * Sunday, lost at Rider: 1-3 Up next: at Buffalo on Wednesdau (11/07) Niagara (5-10-2, 3-5-1 MAAC * Friday, lost at Rider: 0-2 * Sunday, lost at Loyola: 0-1 (OT) Up next: MAAC Tournament AMCC Championship: Penn State-Behrend 2 - Medaille 1 (OT)
Medaille got snubbed by the D-III tournament and has to settle for the ECAC tourney instead. They will host Nazareth on Wednesday at 6 pm. This is a rematch of last year's NCAA tournament game that Nazareth won 16-15 in the shootout (one of the craziest games I've ever seen). In any case, Bill Archer proves his point that Medaille's weak schedule earns them nothing. Despite a 16-2-2 record (including the AMCC regular season title), the Mavs fell in the AMCC championship, and with no automatic bid Medaille failed to earn an at-large bid. I don't know enough about the D-III ranks to be upset one way or the other. Medaille seemed to be ranked or almost ranked by D3kicks all season, but the only polls that matter are the RPI. It's heartbreaking for Medaille, especially since they lost the AMCC championship in overtime, but perhaps they can do well in the NIT...ahem...I mean, ECAC.
A lot of upstate NY teams got the 'snub' for the at-large bids. I'm sure Plattsburgh and Union may have also been hoping for one. As you said don't know whether you should be upset. Sounds like it may have been an off-year for the NYS D-III programs as a whole.
Results from Wednesday, November 7, 2007: ECAC Division III Upstate Quarterfinal: Medaille 1 - Nazareth 0 Medaille achieved some level of revenge against a Nazareth side that knocked them out of the NCAA tournament last year by beating them in the ECAC tournament tonight. Josh Meier scored the game winner in the 81st minute for the Mavs (17-2-2). Medaille will play at Union College in this weekend's semifinals, as Union knocked off Utica 1-0. In the other bracket, RPI beat Oneonta 2-0 and St. John Fisher beat Ithaca 1-0. Canisius 3 - Buffalo 2 Buffalo continues to slump heading into the MAC tournament as they lost to local rival Canisius 3-2 tonight at UB Stadium. Despite goals from star sophomores Alex Marrello and Dan Bulley, and outshooting their opponent 22-7, the Bulls couldn't stop the Golden Griffins from scoring. Alan McGreal scored his 12th goal of the year and assisted on another as Canisius improves to 7-11-0. Buffalo falls to 9-6-2 and has lost 3 straight games. Daniel Bell got the nod in goal for Buffalo on senior night, though I have to wonder if the team isn't better off with Robert Shuttleworth starting. Bell has started the last four games, losing three of them. Up next for Buffalo: MAC Semifinal vs. Hartwick/Western Michigan winner (11/16) Up next for Canisius: MAAC Quarterfinal vs. Iona (11/15)
Result from Saturday, November 10, 2007: ECAC Division III Upstate Semfinal: Union 1 - Medaille 0 Medaille's season came to an end after losing to Union College in the ECAC Semifinals on a late goal. Medaille (17-3-2) returns many of their leading scorers, including Gary Boughton (11 goals, 19 assists), Kendell McFayden (16 goals, 9 assists), and Josh Meier (11 goals, 3 assists), in 2008 so I'd expect them to contend for the AMCC title once again. The Mavs will lose their starting goalkeeper J.J. Bilinski as well as Mike Rhodes (6 goals, 3 assists), but otherwise their core will remain largely intact. While Medaille is probably disappointed with the loss, but my hat is off to the Mavs for another exciting season. They've qualified for the post-season in three straight seasons (including two NCAA bids) and have an incredible 55-6-5 record in the past three years!