The Bison men’s soccer team finished the week with a win, a loss and a draw. The boys were able to bring home a win after beating Lehigh University 1-0 in overtime. However, the Orange and Blue suffered a 2-1 overtime loss to American University at home. They also drew 1-1 on the road at Binghamton. The Bison will now continue their season with an overall record of 3-6-2.

Friday night the Orange and Blue fought tooth and nail for the entire 90 minutes of regulation play. Both teams were unable to get the ball in the back of the net, leaving both teams scoreless as they headed into overtime. The Bison were able to get eight shots off during regulation play. The defensive line is what kept the Bison in the game, as they only let Lehigh get seven shots off before overtime. 

At around the 94th-minute mark, Patrick O’Hara ’22 crossed the ball into the top of the box where it found Eddie Perez-Pelaez ’23. Perez headed the ball off to Jordan Miller ’24, who controlled the ball off his chest and knocked it past Lehigh’s keeper. Miller’s golden goal sealed the deal and brought home the team’s first Patriot League win. This was Miller’s sixth goal of the season, making him the leading goal scorer in the league. 

Heading into overtime, Colin Eifert ’22 explained that Orange and Blue followed their game plan to a tee, ultimately earning them the victory.  “We started off slowly, lacking quality in some areas, but we just continued fighting throughout the remainder of the game. We ended up going into overtime, and we all shared the same end goal: bombard their box and put the ball in the net, which is exactly what we did” Eifert said.  

Two days later, the Bison hosted the American University Eagles, who hold a record of 4-3-2, at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium. The Orange and Blue put forth a solid effort in regulation play. Within the first ten minutes of play, American was able to score and put themselves up 1-0. The score remained the same heading into the second half. 

Center defender Gabe Dahlin ’25 scored his first collegiate goal for the Bison off of a long throw-in from partnering center defender Eifert. Dahlin headed the ball down, found the loose ball and placed the ball in the back of the net with his left foot tying the game at 1-1. Once again, the Bison found themselves heading into golden goal territory. While the Orange and Blue had multiple opportunities to score, they were unable to execute and the Eagles ended up closing the game in the 97th minute. Despite the loss, the Bison put up impressive stats, for example, goalkeeper Bennett Schwartz ’23 ended with six saves and the Bison finished with eight shots on goal.

“Moving forward I’d say it’s just about sticking to the game plan and implementing what we do in practice into our games. It’s all about working together –  competing as one unit – and being able to exploit the weaknesses of the opposing team” Eifert said. 

Alex Clarke ’22 had a similar sentiment. “We have learned that games are close; one goal has defined the winner/loser every time so we weren’t far off. For future games we just have to have the all in mentality, and do our best to think calmly under pressure” Clarke said.

In their final contest of the game week, the Bison drew 1-1 on the road in Vestal, New York against Binghamton. The game was tightly contested throughout. Binghamton found the back of the net in the 19th minute. However, the Bison kept pushing to find an equalizer and ultimately did in the 87th minute. Sebastian Paz ’24 scored on a volley following a long throw from Jack Roberto ’25. The game went into overtime, the third straight contest to do so for the Bison. Neither team was able to find even a shot on goal in the overtime and the game ended in a draw. Schwartz had another strong game in net making three saves.  

The Bison will play next at Colgate for a Patriot League match on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m. where they look to improve their record and bounce back to reach .500 in the Patriot League.