Final Stats

DEKALB, Ill. -- Freshman Kevin Rodriguez (Pasadena, Texas/Deer Park) scored in the 16th minute but Buffalo pulled the goal back in the second half as the Northern Illinois University men’s soccer team played a 1-1 draw with the Bulls on Saturday night at the NIU Soccer Complex.

With the tie, NIU moves to 7-5-1 on the season, 1-1-1 in league play. Buffalo is now 6-5-4 and 1-1-1 in the MAC.

“On the whole I thought it was a solid performance,” said NIU head coach Eric Luzzi. “Buffalo came in here with a lot of confidence, they were 3-1-1 in their last five coming into tonight, they were on a good roll. They also had a whole week (to prepare) whereas we had a midweek game.

“There is a part of me that is a little disappointed that we couldn’t find a way to get all three points, because I thought we had stretches of the game where we were on the front-foot and we had a slight edge in the run of play, but every single point in this conference is a valuable one, so one is better than none.”

In the second minute, senior Bertrand Gaschot (Austin, Texas/Westwood) forced the first save of the match with an effort that was easily stopped by Buffalo goalkeeper Joseph Kuta, but the Huskies would score with the second chance of the match in the 16th minute.

Gaschot whipped in a cross from the right side to Rodriguez at the back post. Rodriguez collected the ball and cut in toward the middle of the field but fired a low shot back across to the near-post, wrong-footing Kuta in goal for the Bulls and finding the back of the net to give the Huskies the early lead.

The goal was the second of the season for the freshman from Pasadena, Texas while the assist was Gaschot’s third of the year.

Just before the half-hour mark, Buffalo was whistled for a hand ball right on the edge of the box. Rodriguez stepped up to take it for the Huskies but his shot was into the wall as NIU maintained the 1-0 lead.

Buffalo had its best spell of the first half in the final five minutes as Daniel Cramarossa fired a shot wide left and Fox Slotemaker saw his effort go wide right as the Huskies took a 1-0 lead into the intermission.

After the break, NIU senior goalkeeper Andrew Glaeser (Walla Walla, Wash./Walla Walla/Oregon State) was called into action in the opening minute of the second half as he palmed away a header from Scott Doney for a corner kick. The Huskies cleared the ensuing set piece opportunity.

Two minutes later, Gaschot and Rodriguez combined for another chance for NIU. Gaschot found Rodriguez just inside the box but the shot from the freshman was straight at Kuta.

In the 53rd minute, Buffalo pulled level. Russell Cicerone slipped a pass into the free of Cramarossa from near the top of the box and Cramarossa slotted a shot under Glaeser from about 12 yards to equalize for the Bulls.

The remaining 37 minutes of regulation were controlled by NIU as the Huskies didn’t allow a shot by the Bulls.

NIU’s best chance to find a second goal in regulation came in the 67th minute as a free kick from junior Richard Hall (Billericay, England/The Billericay School) 25 yards from goal nearly found the upper corner but Kuta made a tremendous save to maintain the 1-1 scoreline.

In the final minute, junior Cody Witkowski (Batavia, Ill./Batavia) flashed a header just wide of the post and the 90 minutes ended even, 1-1.

Buffalo had the best chance of the first overtime period as Doney had a header from inside the six-yard box but put it wide in the 98th minute.

In the second overtime session, NIU created the best chance of the period as the Huskies worked the ball inside the Buffalo box before freshman Adrian Coardos (Evanston, Ill./Niles North) was able to collect the ball with enough space to get off a shot, but his effort went high as the Huskies and Bulls shared the points.

Glaeser finished with two saves for the Huskies while Kuta made five stops for the Bulls.

NIU will return to action next Saturday, Oct. 31, when the Huskies host Western Michigan on Senior Night. Game time against the Broncos is scheduled for 7 p.m.