By JOE ECKSTROM
OBSERVER Sports Reporter
The Fredonia Blue Devils men's soccer team used a big first half to down Buffalo State 2-0 and move to 2-1 in the SUNYAC.
Article Photos
OBSERVER?Photo by Courtney Gfroerer
Fredonia State’s Luke Tylutki (14) looks to make a move around Buffalo State’s James Schrepfer (15) during their SUNYAC?men’s soccer game Saturday, at University Stadium.
"We were pushing a lot of guys forward and trying to attack them on the flanks," Fredonia State head coach P.J. Gondek said. "To be honest, we were doing a really good job of it and I think that was the best we've looked in that first half."
With the pressure on in the first half, the Blue Devils had a number of scoring opportunities, but it was not until 18:56 into the game when Fredonia State got on the scoreboard.
Jay Dry was the goal getter as he was able to knock in a header off of Tyler Williams' corner kick to give the Blue Devils the advantage.
Less than four minutes later, Fredonia State struck again when Mike Biggane won a scramble in front of the net to put the home team up 2-0.
"I don't know the goals were scored directly because of our flank play," Gondek explained. "The immense amount of pressure we were putting on them was what was causing the corner kicks and the scramble in front. The goals were just a part of what we were doing over all."
While Fredonia State tried to keep up the same pace in the second half, the team made some adjustments based on Buffalo State's play.
"It was kind of a weird second half, because they let us come to them," Gondek said. "We didn't really need too, because we had the lead, so it was a little bit strange. We certainly came out trying to get the third goal, but we didn't, so that's when we fell back a little."
As the Bengals picked up the pressure, the Blue Devils defense came up with a number of big plays to preserve the shutout.
"Our guys in the back played pretty well today," Gondek said. "Jake Persons, our goalkeeper, Mike Shreiner, freshman Keith Braun, Jeremy Voigt and Matt Schroen all did a good job at holding them off."
Some of those big plays came in the form of big stops by Shreiner as he recorded his second shutout of the year with five saves in the game.
With 3:12 left in the game, Fredonia State got one more chance to score as Luke Tylutki was rewarded a penalty kick, but he was unable to convert on the try.
"One of our best players was Luke Tylutki," Gondek said. "He missed the PK, but he had a great, great game. With him coming on, hopefully we will keep getting better."
The Blue Devils will look to continue to build momentum in SUNYAC play as they travel to Oswego next Friday and have a date with first place Cortland on Saturday.
