The pitch in Buffalo this weekend was the closest thing to a war zone the NIU men’s soccer team had seen this season.

“It wasn’t an all out war scenario, but it was a typical hard fought MAC contest,” said NIU men’s soccer coach Steve Simmons of his team’s Friday night matchup against Buffalo. “We needed to be a step ahead in every single category, which I thought we [did] in everything except the score.”

Unfortunately for Simmons, his team wasn’t able to take advantage in points and ended the game in a 1-1 draw. However the Huskies (6-2-3 overall, 1-1-1 MAC) shined when it came to using their speed on the field.

“Not waiting for the ball, being first to the ball, and not letting the ball bounce are three things that are paramount in order to do the Xs and Os part game,” Simmons said. “We did a superb job of being a step ahead of Buffalo the whole time.”

NIU’s hard work in getting to the ball first showed, as the team went up 1-0 before the half. Junior Ben Thomas became the Huskies’ 12th player to score this season, with a header off of a long throw in by junior Danny Lopez.

“We were in good position around the ball as it got close to the goal,” Simmons said. “I think that our individual positions made it difficult for the keeper to get a clean look on the ball. We were able to get to the ball first and Ben was able to tap it in.”

After the goal, NIU was able to hold the Bulls (10-2-3, 2-0-1) to a scoreless 40 minutes before a penalty kick tied the game. The kick resulted from a foul in the box, and Buffalo’s Dan Bulley took advantage, tying the game with 10 minutes left.

Simmons said he dislikes commenting on the game’s officiating, but believes if the referees were to look at the play again, they might have called things differently.

“It’s harsh in any game when the game is swayed by a penalty kick,” Simmons said. “But I think we performed valiantly after the call, even though we were very disappointed with it.”

Before entering the game, both teams’ offenses looked similar on paper. The match proved that
the teams’ statistics were not lying.

Though the Huskies outshot the Bulls 11-10, both teams put six shots on goal. NIU found themselves with a slight advantage finding eight corner kicks, to Buffalo’s six. Neither team outplayed the other statistically, but Simmons thought NIU was the better team in the match.

“I thought our guys played tremendously well and basically did everything we worked on during the week,” he said. “If there’s anything we were disappointed in outside of the result, it’s that we need to take our chances better. Our finishing opportunities need to be more clinical to keep the pressure off of us when we go into games like that.”

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