The Canisius College men's soccer team allowed three second-half goals to suffer a 4-2 setback at Buffalo on Tuesday night. The Bulls claimed the Big 4 Shield from the Griffs with the victory and improve to 3-0-0, while Canisius suffers its first loss of the season and drops to 1-1-0.
“That was a very poor performance by us tonight,” said Canisius head coach Dermot McGrane. “We have some injuries that forced us to play with midfielders on the back line but that is no excuse. We only gave up 16 goals all of last season so for us to allow four in one game is a disgrace. We will learn from this, move on and get better after this performance.”
Senior Chris Berardi posted the first multi-goal game of his career with two scores on the night – both coming from the penalty spot. However, it was the team's defense – a strength of the 2014 squad – that let the team down in the rivalry game.
Buffalo grabbed the early lead in the contest when Russell Cicerone scored on a free kick from 30 yards out to give the Bulls the 1-0 advantage in the 20th minute.
Canisius answered back and tied the game when Berardi scored his first of the 2015 campaign. The Buffalo goalie pulled down sophomore Hakeem Milson in the box and the referee immediately pointed toward the spot. While the netminder avoided the red card, he could not prevent Berardi from finding the back of the net as Canisius squared the game at one in the 33rd minute.
The Griffs then grabbed the lead in the 52nd minute when the team was awarded a second penalty kick. After junior Francesco Strangio was tripped up in the box, Berardi finished for the second time for the 2-1 lead.
The Canisius lead, however, was short-lived as the Bulls answered back five minutes later. After a couple minutes of pressure, Buffalo finally capitalized when David Enstrom scored in the 57th minute to tie the game at two.
Scott Doney then added the final two goals of the game to help the Bulls claim the Big 4 Shield for the first time. In the 73rd minute, Doney finished off a cross from Marcus Hanson for the 3-2 lead. He then connected on a header off a free kick for the 4-2 final score, netting his second of the day in the 84th minute.
Canisius finished the game with a 19-11 advantage in shots and an 8-5 edge in corner kicks.
The Griffs look to return to their winning ways with a road trip to California this weekend. Canisius opens its trip on the West Coast against San Francisco on Friday with a 10 p.m. ET start.
Game Notes: The Griffs last allowed four goals in a game against St. Francis (Pa.) on Sept. 1, 2013 … Canisius was looking to start the season 2-0-0 for the first time since 1976 … The Griffs claimed the initial Big 4 Shield last season with a win over Niagara … Canisius still has a chance to finish the year with the shield if Buffalo loses to either St. Bonaventure or Niagara … The Griffs have scored three goals in their two games this season with all three coming from the penalty spot … Senior Andrew Coughlin had his school-record shutout streak snapped at 399:19 with Buffalo's first-half goal.
