Bulls Battle To a Tie With Miami in Conference Opener

Shannon Fisher scores first collegiate goal to tie the game

BUFFALO, NY – The University at Buffalo women’s soccer team opened the MAC portion of their season against Miami (OH) this evening at UB Stadium. After 110 minutes of play, the game ended with a 1-1 tie, as Shannon Fisher scored her first collegiate goal off a long pass from Lindsey Bailey and a tip from fellow freshman Stephanie Velez at the 55:49 mark.

Shannon Fisher

The RedHawks scored their goal early in the match with Allison Berkey putting one past UB goalkeeper Amy Coron in the 11th minute of play. Despite outshooting Miami, 8-6 in the first half, the Bulls could not get on the board.

Lindsey Bailey

Buffalo came back from the break with intensity. With just over 10 minutes gone from the half, Bailey set up a pass from 18 yards out, with Velez getting a piece of it and Fisher ultimately knocking in the tying goal with a swift kick from close range to beat the Miami keeper. Buffalo looked as though they had the winning goal with 25 minutes remaining, but were called offsides as the ball went to the back of the net. At the end of regulation, Buffalo had the advantage in shots 17-12.

Miami had the only shot in the first overtime, and outshot the Bulls 5-2 in the second overtime, which came down to strong defense on the side of the Bulls. Jennifer Mihok, Angela Nicholas, Nina Connell and Kristen Bailey all played 110 minutes of solid defense. Coron came up big in goal for the Bulls, finishing the game with eight saves.

“The team just played really well for 90 minutes. We lost it a little bit in the overtime, but that’s the best soccer that we’ve played all season. If we play that way every game we’re going to win a lot of soccer games,” said head coach Michael Thomas.

The Bulls edged out the RedHawks in shots, 19-18, at the end of the game with Lindsey Bailey having a team-high four shots.

The Bulls will be back in action on Sunday against Ball State. The match is set for noon at UB Stadium.