Buffalo State’s women’s soccer team split a pair of non-conference games last week at Coyer Field, steamrolling cross-town foe Medaille College on Wednesday, 5-0, before falling to No. 2 William Smith College on Saturday, 2-0.
The Bengals entered Wednesday’s tilt with a 3-2 record and a great deal of confidence, having beaten Medaille multiple times in recent history.
“We knew how Medaille was going to play us and we were ready,” said senior captain Tina Boberskyj. “But it wasn’t much of a challenge.”
The Bengals got off to a fast start, using a pair of goals from senior midfielder Amber Smyth to take a 2-0 lead less than six minutes into the contest.
Junior forward Melissa Mahoney added two goals of her own in the 64th and 87th minutes and assisted on junior midfielder Alyssa Ciliberto’s goal scored in the 82nd minute.
Sophomore forward Amanda Smyth recorded three assists in the match, while junior goalkeeper Virginia Porten was forced to make only two saves.
Buffalo State outshot Medaille 15-2 and dominated the Mavericks in all aspects of the game.
It was in the game’s final minute that frustration began to boil over when Medaille’s Mame Yaa Ankoma-Mensa threw a punch toward Bengals’ defender Jessica O’Donoghue, resulting in a red card and an automatic two-game suspension for both players.
O’Donoghue said the mishap put a damper on the well-played affair for the Bengals.
“We just played our game the whole way through and I guess the tension just became too much for them,” she said. “It’s disappointing when the other team has to resort to playing that kind of game.”
Head coach Nick DeMarsh agreed that it was a disappointing way for the game to end.
“You never want to win like that, especially heading into a game against a team like William Smith,” he said. “You don’t ever want to be looked at in that light. We pride ourselves on being a disciplined team so it’s unfortunate it happened that way but learned from it and we’ve already put it behind us.”
The Bengals regained their composure after the bittersweet victory and shifted their focus toward a William Smith team who entered the game allowing just five shots on goal through their first five games.
The Bengals opened the game strong, nearly matching the Herons’ season total in shots against by putting three balls on net in the first half.
It would turn out those three shots would be all the Bengals would get on a stingy William Smith defense as the Herons dominated the second half, taking advantage of the Bengals’ injury issues in net.
In a controversial play by William Smith’s Dineo Mmulta, Porten was forced to leave the game with an injury. With starting goalie Linda Banfield already on the sidelines with an ailment of her own, midfielder Boberskyj was forced to step in and came up big in an admirable performance.
Boberskyj’s seven-save effort though ultimately fell short, as William Smith proved too strong, scoring on goals in the 54th and 67th minutes to take the win.
“We lost because they were better than us, it’s as simple as that,” DeMarsh said. “They were faster, more technical; they’re a great team.
“In some ways this game was a victory for us,” he continued. “We learned we had the talent to be able to remain competitive against a top-ranked team. It makes us wonder how the game would have gone had we have been at full strength. We still feel like we could have beaten them.”
Despite their series of tough breaks, the Bengals will have to find a way to overcome injuries going forward as they enter a crucial slate of conference games.
This weekend the ladies are scheduled to host Brockport on Friday and will square off against Geneseo on Saturday.
Brandon Schlager can be reached by email at brandon.record@live.com.