Box Score
BUFFALO, NY—The University at Buffalo's Andy Tiedt scored the only goal of the night with just over seven minutes remaining, lifting the unbeaten Bulls to a 1-0 win over visiting NJIT in non-conference men's soccer Wednesday night.
Tiedt, who scored his second goal of the year, got behind the NJIT defense with a diagonal run and finished a pass from Risto Latti at 82:53. Neither team got a shot after Tiedt found the back of the net.
The win lifted Buffalo to a 3-0-1 mark in the young season, while NJIT falls to 1-3.
The total shots favored UB, 15-8, but the more relevant shots on goal were 4-2 for the Bulls and the home team took six corner kicks to four for the Highlanders.
Buffalo goalkeeper Jonathan Viscosi needed two saves to maintain the shutout, while his NJIT counterpart, Lars Maalen-Johansen stopped three shots. Wednesday's result was the third clean sheet in four games for Viscosi. It was the first time the Highlanders have been blanked.
“It was a tough loss,” said NJIT coach Cesar Markovic. “We played well, particularly in the first half. It was an even game. We had our chances to win, as did they. But we made a mistake on defense late and they capitalized and that was enough for them to win.”
According to Markovic, his team had multiple scoring chances in the first half: “We had three or four good chances in the first half, but we couldn't get what we needed to turn it into a goal.”
Buffalo had its chances in the first half, too, including a shot by Tiedt that hit the post in the 36th minute.
“Lars (Maalen-Johansen) had a tremendous game,” said Markovic of his goalkeeper. “He made some great saves.”
The best chance for NJIT in the second half came when Franco Gamero, who scored twice in the previous game, a 3-2 win at VMI, got free on a breakaway. “He had a little trouble changing from one foot to the other and it gave the keeper time to get on the ball,” said Markovic.
Wednesday's game was the second in a back-to-back set of long trips for NJIT. On Sunday, the Highlanders visited VMI as part of an 800-mile round-trip bus trip and the game at Buffalo was part of a 760-mile round trip.
Markovic would not allow excuses, instead saying he was encouraged by his team's performance against Buffalo, which competes in the Mid-American Conference, home of 2010 NCAA Division I champion Akron
“We played very tough on the road against a good team,” said the coach, in his first season with NJIT. “We played good soccer and we're showing some promise. We're getting closer to where we want to be.”
The Highlanders will be back home for their next match, a 4 pm game against Long Island University Sunday afternoon on Lubetkin Field at J. Malcolm Simon Stadium.
