Michigan State University
Buffalo
Men's Soccer Battles To Overtime Tie In Season Opener
9/1/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Soccer
Sept. 1, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men?s soccer team made its season debut Wednesday afternoon, finishing with a 1-1 overtime tie against the University of Buffalo.
The first score of the game came at the 28:45 mark as Buffalo junior Tim Songer finished a breakaway by sneaking a shot past junior goalkeeper Tim Leickfelt (Sterling Heights, Mich.). The Bulls, however, did not maintain the lead for long. Spartan junior John Benoist (St. Louis) slipped a penalty kick in at 33:18 to tie the game at 1. The rest of the game remained scoreless, despite Michigan State's 22-3 shots on goal advantage.
Although the Spartans did not come out with a win, Coach Joe Baum was pleased with his team's overall performance.
"Our team had a fine effort today," Baum said. "We controlled the tempo the entire game. However, we need to capitalize on our scoring chances. When you have that many opportunities to win the game, you have to execute. Hopefully we can improve on our mistakes this weekend."
The men's soccer team returns to action this weekend in the Hampton Inn-MSU Classic. The Spartans will face IUPUI on Saturday and Cleveland State on Monday. Both games begin at 1:00 p.m. at Old College Field on the MSU campus.
Scoring Summary Buffalo (0-0-1) Songer, 28:45 Michigan State (0-0-1) Benoist, 33:18Shot Attempts Buffalo 3 Michigan State 22
Goalie Saves Deming (Buffalo) 12 Lickfelt (Michigan St.) 1
Fouls Buffalo 34 Michigan State 20
Corner Kicks Buffalo 3 Michigan State 5
