Dallas Baptist 9-18-14: (Live Stats / Live Video / Tickets) St. Edward's 9-20-14: (Live Stats / Live Video / Tickets) Buffalo Soccer Game Notes CANYON, Texas – Coming off back-to-back road wins, the West Texas A&M men's soccer team will host two Heartland Conference opponents at home this week as it begins a six-game home stand at The Pitch in Canyon, Texas. First, WT will face Dallas Baptist on Thursday at 7 p.m. They will then welcome the Hilltoppers of St. Edward's on Saturday night. Kickoff for that match is also scheduled for 7 p.m.
LIVE COVERAGE: Live stats and a free video webstream will be provided for both matches this weekend courtesy of West Texas A&M Athletic Media Relations. Links can be found at the top of the page or on www.GoBuffsGo.com via the men's soccer schedule page.
CAREER 700th: Head coach
Butch Lauffer returned this fall for his 24th season at the helm of the Buffs. The Washington, D.C., native, holds a 276-121-31 all-time record in his tenure as the men's coach (1991-present). Including his 14 years as the head women's coach (1996-2009), Lauffer is 465-188-48 with the Buffs and Lady Buffs. On Friday at CSU-Pueblo, Lauffer coached his 700th career game for WT on the pitch (men and women combined), a 5-3 victory over the ThunderWolves.
HOME STAND: The Buffs begin a six-game home stand on Thursday evening with their match against Dallas Baptist. After Saturday's game against St. Edward's, they will host Oklahoma Christian (Sept. 25), Newman (Sept. 27), No. 23 Fort Hays State (Oct. 2), and Eastern New Mexico (Oct. 8). After that stretch, WT will play six of its final seven regular season matches of the 2014 season on the road.
WEEKLY RANKINGS: Although they were left out of the NSCAA National Rankings this week, the Buffs were favored highly in two other weekly polls across the nation. After back-to-back road wins, they moved up five spots in the BennettRank weekly poll to ninth in the country. Then, in TopDrawerSoccer.com's weekly power rankings, the Buffs are tabbed one spot higher at eighth in the nation. For full rankings, see the links below:
DALLAS BAPTIST AT A GLANCE: The Patriots will come into Thursday night's contest with a 2-3 overall record. After opening the season with a 2-1 victory over Harding, DBU dropped three of its next four contests, including losses to Colorado Christian (2-1) at home and first-year DII member Oklahoma Baptist (2-0) and Metro State (4-1) on the road. Their lone win in that stretch was a 4-3 decision at Southern Nazarene.
Landon Lacy and Riley Alvey have led the way for the Patriots with two goals and one assist apiece while combining for 23 shots. The team has a much more balanced attack than in 2013 as six players have found the net in those five matches. Mason Stringer has seen the majority of the action between the pipes, starting four of five games for 369 total minutes. He owns a 2-2 record with a 2.44 GAA, .655 save percentage and 19 saves while giving up 10 goals on 64 shots faced.
DBU has already matched its total offensive output in terms of goals from last year by finding the net eight times. The Patriots finished off the 2013 season with a 6-9-1 overall record and went 4-4-1 in Heartland Conference play.
The Buffs are undefeated in six meetings all-time with the Patriots. The last time both teams met was in Canyon on Sept. 19, 2013, a match which ended up being called due to severe weather.
ST. EDWARD'S AT A GLANCE: The Hilltoppers of St. Edward's began the season with a 1-2 overall record. They opened up the season with a 0-2 loss on the road to Colorado Mesa. They then traveled to Fort Lewis where they earned their first victory of the season, a 1-0 decision. Last Saturday, SEU dropped a 1-2 overtime contest at home to Metro State to fall to 1-2. Before taking on the Buffs in Canyon on Saturday, SEU will travel to Texas A&M-International on Wednesday, Sept. 17, for a non-conference matchup with their fellow Heartland Conference member.
Primo Covarrubias has tallied both goals for the Hilltoppers thus far off of only six shots and three shots-on-goal. Kevin Leib has seen all the action in goal with 272 minutes of action. He holds a 1.32 GAA, .733 save percentage with one shutout to his credit and 11 saves while allowing four goals off 33 shots faced.
SEU had a very successful season in 2013 as it went 12-3-2 overall 7-1-1 in Heartland Conference play. They were named Heartland Conference Champions; however, did not receive a bid to NCAA Postseason play.
The Buffs are 12-4 all-time against the Hilltoppers and hold a 6-1 advantage when playing on home turf. However, WT dropped the last meeting with SEU, a 2-1 decision in Austin on Sept. 27, 2013.
COLORADO STATE-PUEBLO REVISITED: The Buffs surged back to their winning ways, surviving a 5-3 decision over Colorado State-Pueblo on Friday night in Pueblo, Colo. Freshman
Axel Insulander led the way with two goals as the Buffs improved to 2-1 on the season. With the loss, the ThunderWolves fell to 0-3 on the year.
WT grabbed the early 1-0 advantage off its first shot of the match in the 18th minute with a score by Insulander. The Stockholm, Sweden, native, took an assisted pass from senior
Christopher Hutton 20 yards out and carried the ball into the box before sending a strike inside the far post from 15 yards.
The Buffs wasted no time in increasing their lead as they grabbed another goal in the 24th minute. Insulander struck once again for his second career goal as a Buffalo as he dribbled through the middle and sent another strike towards the far post from 12 yards out. He was assisted this time from senior
Vitor Cardoso.
Seven minutes later, junior
Gabe Williams added to the lead with his first goal of the season. The Pfluggerville, Texas, native, timed a misplayed ball by CSUP's keeper and defender and found a wide open net in the 31st minute to increase the Buffs' advantage to 3-0.
At the 33:34 mark in the first half, senior
Michael Williams scored another goal for the Buffs as he walked the end line and sent a cross into a trailing teammate. The pass deflected off a CSUP defender straight into the net.
The Buffs would struggle defensively throughout the majority of the second half as they let in two more goals but survived the thriller with a late goal by junior
Chris Johnson.
With the win, WT is now 12-1-1 all-time against CSUP. The ThunderWolves held the advantage in shots Friday, 18-12, while both teams had eight attempts each on target.
Gabe Williams led the way for the Buffs with three shots while Hutton and Insulander had two each.
Senior keeper
Carlos Ruiz earned his first victory of the season in his first start. He finished the contest with five saves. Sam Haseltine took the loss for CSUP, surrendering five goals while grabbing three stops.
ADAMS STATE REVISITED: WT improved its record on Sunday afternoon to 3-1 with a 5-0 shutout victory over Adams State in Alamosa, Colo. In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, the Buffs were led by Johnson with two goals as WT tallied five goals off of just seven shots. With the loss, the Grizzlies fell to 1-2 on the season.
Neither the Buffs nor the Grizzlies were able to generate many chances in the opening 15 minutes of the frame but WT took advantage of the two it had with two goals off two shots. Redshirt junior
Tre Norton started things off at the 10:10 mark as he sank in a goal for the early 1-0 advantage.
Just minutes later, at the 13:40 mark, Cardoso took a PK opportunity for the Buffs. He converted on the attempt to increase the Buffs' lead to 2-0. With the goal, Cardoso remains perfect in his career with WT from PKs, now 3-for-3.
The Buffs would never ease up on the gas through the remainder of the first frame. They set themselves up for a quick corner kick opportunity in the 20th minute, taken by junior
Austin Henderson. The chance ended with a header goal by Johnson, his second score of the season. He was assisted by
Michael Williams.
Only two minutes later, Johnson would grab another goal for the Buffs, this time assisted by Cardoso, making the lead now 4-0 with his third goal in the previous two games.
WT wasted no time in adding to the score in the second frame as freshman
Alex Cervantes grabbed his first career goal as a Buffalo in the 48th minute from a rebound off the keeper.
With the Buffs holding onto the decisive lead through the second frame, the Grizzlies led on the shot chart, 12-7; however, the Buffs held the advantage in shots-on-goal, 6-3. Cardoso and Johnson led the way with two each while three other Buffs had one. Sophomore keeper
Patrick Satorie got the win for the Buffs and improved his record to 2-1 between the pipes.
