Oklahoma Christian 9-25-14: (Live Stats / Live Video / Tickets) Newman 9-27-14: (Live Stats / Tickets) Buffalo Soccer Game Notes CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M men's soccer team looks to rebound this week with home matches against Oklahoma Christian and Newman. The Buffs will first host the Eagles at The Pitch in Canyon, Texas on Thursday, Sept. 25th at 7 p.m. followed by a showdown with the Jets on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
LIVE COVERAGE: Live stats and a free video webstream will be provided for Thursday's match courtesy of West Texas A&M Athletic Media Relations while only live stats will be available for Saturday's contest. Links can be found 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 277-122-31 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 466-189-48 with the Buffs and Lady Buffs. On Sept. 12, 2014 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 are currently in the middle of a six-game homestand as they continue the stretch on Thursday evening with their match against Oklahoma Christian and Saturday afternoon versus Newman. Last week the split the first two matches, defeating Dallas Baptist (1-0) and losing to St. Edward's (4-0). They will close out the swing with matches against 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.
OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN AT A GLANCE: The Eagles will come into Thursday's matchup with WT owning a 1-2-1 overall record. OCU opened up its season with a 3-2 overtime loss to Southern Nazarene before earning its only win, a 3-0 decision over Ouachita Baptist. The Eagles then dropped a 4-0 match against Colorado Mines and tied their previous contest 1-1 with Harding. Their matchup with WT will be their first road contest of the season.
Ante Susic has made the most noise for OCU offensively this season even while coming off the bench in all four matches. He has tallied three goals for a team-high six points and has also taken a team-high 13 shots. Evan Helker has started all four games in goal and owns a 1.87 GAA and a .636 save percentage with 14 total saves, one shutout and eight goals against off of 71 shots faced.
The Buffs are undefeated in the all-time series with OCU, winning all five matchups. The last meeting was a 1-0 victory for WT in Edmond on Oct. 5, 2013.
NEWMAN AT A GLANCE: The Jets have begun the 2014 season with a 5-1-1 record while having a fairly easy schedule thus far. They have played four of their seven games against non-Division II competition, resulting in 27 of their 28 goals scored this season. NU opened up the year with back-to-back contests against Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opponents, defeating William Jewell in its season-opener 1-0 before playing to a 0-0 draw with Maryville. The Jets then won their next three games, defeating Sterling College (6-2), Hillsdale Baptist (13-0), and Friends (4-3). They then took their first loss at home to No. 20 Midwestern State, 2-0, followed by a 4-0 win over Barclay College. Before coming to Canyon on Saturday, they will travel to Eastern New Mexico on Thursday in their first road contest.
Kerbson Lubin has accounted for five total goals, including two game-winners, and 12 points (both team-highs) and tallied two assists as well. Vitor Okamoto has also added five goals for the Jets. Nine total players have registered goals for the team so far. The Jets have split time evenly between both Steven Hamersky and Calum Dillon, giving both guys three starts each.
The Buffs are 2-0 all-time against the Jets. The last meeting between the two teams was a 3-1 win for WT in Canyon on Sept. 23, 2011.
DALLAS BAPTIST REVISITED: The Buffs began their six-game home stretch on Thursday night with a 1-0 shutout victory over Dallas Baptist. An early first-half penalty kick by senior
Vitor Cardoso gave the Buffs their third-straight win of the season as they improved to 4-1. With the loss, the Patriots fell to 2-4.
Cardoso put the Buffs on top early with a 16th minute goal. Senior
Michael Williams was taken out of the previous play in the box by DBU keeper Chuck Shober, leading to the free chance. Cardoso converted on the kick to give the home team the 1-0 advantage. He remains perfect from PKs in his WT career, now 4-for-4.
The Buffs held a strong 16-7 advantage in total shots on Thursday while they placed seven of those attempts on target. Freshman
Axel Insulander grabbed a team-high four shots while Johnson attempted three. Satorie got the win and moved to 3-1 after stopping two shots on the night and allowing no goals. The Buffs also held the edge in corners, 5-4.
ST. EDWARD'S REVISITED: WT suffered a big blow on Saturday night at The Pitch as it was shutout by St. Edward's, 4-0, in a big South Central Region matchup. The defeat snapped the Buffs' three-game winning streak and is the second loss for the team this season on home turf. They dropped their record to 4-2 on the season while the Hilltoppers improved to 3-2 with the win.
Samuel Jackson led the way for the visitors with two goals in Saturday's contest while Kyle Pujats gave SEU the game-winner early on in just the 17th minute of the match. The Hilltoppers managed to tally the four goals off of just 10 total shots and six shots-on-goal. They were able to hold on to the 3-0 advantage and extend the lead even while playing the final 21 minutes a man down after Ty Mobley was ejected after receiving a red card at the 69:16 mark.
SEU grabbed what would be the deciding goal early on in the first frame at just the 16:23 mark. Josh Taylor took the corner for the Hilltoppers and played a perfect ball inside the box allowing Pujtas to head in the winning score. Jackson then grabbed his first goal of the match and the season in the 23rd minute. He received a cross from Kyle Ruck from the left wing and sent the one-timer to the back of the net for the early 2-0 lead.
Cardoso found some more chances early in the second frame before junior
George Beasley came off the bench with a couple of attempts but the Buffs would fail to cut the lead before SEU grabbed the three-goal advantage. That third score came at the 63:07 mark on a tough play where Satorie had no chance at making a stop. Andrew Fox sent a hard strike in from the top of the box that rattled the right post but the ball took a Hilltoppers' bounce right into the foot of Ruck who chipped in the easy goal right in front of the line.
The final goal of the match came shortly after in the 72nd minute. Satorie was nearly able to handle a tough save on a hard shot by Fox. As he was falling the ball came out briefly while he was nearly able to recover before Jackson stormed in for another chip-in goal from close range.
Though dropping the game 4-0, the Buffs led in total shots on the night, 15-10, and shots-on-goal, 7-6. Cardoso had four of those attempts while senior
Christopher Hutton and freshman
Ombrai Oguoko finished with two and seven other WT players had one each. Leib improved his record to 3-2 with the win in goal and he finished the night with seven saves for SEU.
