Buffalo State’s women’s soccer team is on the verge of missing out on the SUNYAC Tournament for the first time since 2008 after last weekend’s slate of road games failed to produce a key conference win for the Bengals.
The team traveled to Cortland and Oswego for a pair of matchups in which the Bengals fell to the Red Dragons, 3-2 in overtime on Friday before being shut out by the Lakers, 1-0 on Saturday, dropping their season record to 0-4-1 in conference play and 5-7-1 overall.
“We went into the weekend expecting to get at least three points,” said head coach Nick DeMarsh, referring to the points that teams are awarded for in-conference wins that determine the conference standings. “We just weren’t focused enough on the details and that’s what it came down to.”
Buffalo State went into their game against Cortland confident, but found themselves down early after the Red Dragons kicked off the game’s scoring in the 35th minute.
The Bengals would battle back to overcome one-goal deficits twice in the game as sophomore forward Amanda Smyth scored each of the team’s two goals, including one in the 71st minute to tie the game at 2-2 and force overtime.
Despite a well-played game by the Bengals, Cortland dominated in the overtime period, outshooting Buffalo State 6-0 and forcing junior goaltender Virginia Porten to make a few key saves early in the period. Porten’s efforts wouldn’t be enough, though, as Cortland found the back of the net for the game winner with just 47 seconds remaining.
“We had most of the momentum throughout the entire game,” said senior midfielder Tina Boberskyj. “It’s a tough way to lose when we outplayed (Cortland) the whole game, especially since we needed the win so badly.”
Buffalo State left Cortland fatigued both mentally and physically after the loss and took the field against Oswego the very next day desperate for a win to salvage their dying playoff hopes.
The Bengals managed to match up very well against the well-rested Oswego team throughout the contest, however, doubling the Lakers’ shot total 12-6. But in the 80th minute Oswego notched the game’s only goal to give them the lead they would not relinquish.
“We came into the weekend needing points and we didn’t get the job done,” said senior defender Ashley Mazurkiewicz. “Now things are going to get pretty tough for us if we want to make SUNYACs. We can do it, but it won’t be easy.”
It will certainly be an uphill battle for the Bengals going forward if they wish to take part in the SUNYAC Tournament at the end of the month. With just five games left to play, the Bengals find themselves in ninth place in the conference and six points behind Geneseo for the sixth and final playoff spot.
Despite their less-than-stellar record in conference games to this point, Boberskyj said she thinks all the team really needs is one win to put the Bengals into a “winning groove.”
“Winning is contagious,” she said. “So is losing.”
“Right now we’ve been caught in a funk. We’re down on ourselves from the tough losses we’ve taken. But I think all this team needs is to be able to see what it feels like to win a big conference game and then we can use that as our spark.”
The Bengals will set out to search for that spark this weekend as they welcome last-place Potsdam University to Coyer Field on Friday as well as fourth-place Plattsburgh University on Saturday in a pair of games that are must-wins for the team if they want to make an improbable playoff push.
DeMarsh said Potsdam is a team the Bengals should be able to earn the win against, but Plattsburgh will be the true test as the team will face the Cardinals for the first time since being eliminated in the SUNYAC semi-finals in last year’s tournament.
As if the odds weren’t already stacked highly against them, the team also lost junior defender and co-captain Jessica O’Donoghue halfway through the loss against Oswego to what looks to be a season-ending injury and DeMarsh said that alone will be tough to overcome.
But he said he doesn’t think the Bengals will be throwing in the towel anytime soon.
“There hasn’t been a game we couldn’t have won this year, so I still like our chances of getting in,” he said. “It will all depend on the heart and leadership of this team. We’ll need a few players to step it up if we want to reach our goal of winning the SUNYAC title.”
Brandon Schlager can be reached by email at schlager.record@live.com