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Mike Geller

BUFFALO, NY - The University at Buffalo and Wright State University were Friday's winners in the opening round of the UB Fall Classic in men's soccer action at UB's RAC Field. The Bulls downed Central Connecticut State, 2-1, in Friday's nightcap. In the opener, Wright State used four first half goals to defeat Canisius, 4-0.

The UB-Central Connecticut State match was tightly contested and wasn't decided until late in the second half. Senior defender Mike Geller (Gardiner, NY/New Paltz) headed in Dave Pidgeon's (Dorval, Quebec/Bishop Whelan) direct free kick past CCSU keeper Andrew Sierman at the 75:52 mark to lift the Bulls past the Blue Devils.

Central Connecticut opened the scoring in the first half as Kasheim Outlaw scored at the 19:48 mark off assists from Peter Howe and Alex Harrison.

UB then scored the match's final two goals as freshman midfielder Erik Jaanimagi (Henrietta, NY/Rush-Henrietta) pushed across a pass from Patrick Beckley (Poughquag, NY/Arlington) to knot the contest at 1-1 at the 25:40. The match remained deadlocked until Geller's winning marker.

From there, the UB defense took over stopping several Blue Devil attempts in the final 10 minutes. Freshman keeper Daniel Bell (Brampton, Ontario/Notre Dame) picked up the win in goal for the Bulls as he turned aside eight shots. Sierman registered six saves for CCSU.

In the opening match of the classic, Wright State scored all four goals in the first 20 minutes to cruise past the Golden Griffins. Ricky Strong picked up his third goal of the season just 5:57 into the match to give the Raiders a 1-0 edge. Juan Vasquez (10:01), Jon McClain (11:37) and Tony Labudovski (20:05) also scored in the first half for Wright State.

Although the matchups for Sunday's finales had been prearranged, Friday winners, UB (1-2) and Wright State (1-1), will meet Sunday at 2:00 pm at RAC Field in what would be considered the championship match. Canisius (1-2) and Central Connecticut State (2-1) will square off in the other match starting at 12:00 pm.