With youth comes a sense of excitement and enthusiasm, a new perspective that can energize a team. However, it also means inexperience which often means costly errors can occur and, as always, there is a downside.

These factors paint the image of the 2014 season for the Buffalo State men’s soccer team.

Despite a late season push to contend for a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs, the Bengals closed out their conference campaign with a 1-1 tie against winless New Paltz and a loss against the nationally ranked Oneonta Dragons with a final score of 2-0, resulting in them missing the playoffs. Buffalo State did finish out the season on a high note, defeating the Nazareth Golden Flyers, 2-1, this past Tuesday in a “play for pride” contest. They finished the season with a record of 6-10-2.

2014 had its ups and its downs with the disappointment of missing out on the playoffs, however, several bright, young talents emerged and will continue to grow in the program. Sophomore forward Joe Vucic led the team in scoring with 10 goals and two assists. Sophomore Hunter Hein stabilized the net for the Bengals with four clean sheets and a bright future.

Freshman midfielder Adonis Martinez looks very promising as he shows flashy, exciting play down the left flank. Sophomore Alex Cassells from New Malden, England will continue to get better as he leads the back end for Buffalo State. The list goes on and on.

There was an expectation for the team to build on its breakout season from last year when they qualified for the SUNYAC playoffs for the first time since 2007. An eight-game turnaround from the previous campaign won Howlett SUNYAC Coach of the Year honors in his first season with the program.

The Bengals’ roster consisted of 18 underclassmen and only seven upperclassmen. The roller coaster ride that comes with a young team was expected.

The Bengals started the season slow, winning only two of the first 12 games to start the season.

“Personally, I think in the beginning of the season, I wasn’t doing enough to help lead this team on the field and I wasn’t being active enough in goal to keep clean sheets,” sophomore goalkeeper Hunter Hein said.

Despite Hein taking the blame, the entire team was at fault for the mediocre start to the season. Random kicks, untimely fouls and poor decisions in the flow of play including wrong passes and ill-timed shots were commonplace in the early losses.

The frustration hit a boiling point after a particularly crushing defeat against Geneseo. After the game, heads were hung and the proud head coach that led them sat on the players’ bench, hand on chin in frustration and disgust.

“We wanted to win. We wanted to compete but we just lost focus,” Howlett said with a look of disappointment on his face.

At the time of the struggles, there was feeling that despite the mistakes they were making and the disappointments they were enduring, the team was still good enough to win games and had beaten themselves on numerous occasions.

“Our wins are coming, I’m not worried about this our wins are definitely coming,” Hein said.

The coach and the players were on the same page with their sentiments.

“Obviously, this isn’t the result we wanted but we also started 0-3 in the conference last year and still made the playoffs for the first time in seven years and so we keep moving forward from this and don’t let it phase us,” Howlett said after that loss.

After a poor start to the season, the Bengals began to put it together when they picked up a 1-0 victory over Alfred.

“As the season progressed, the team and I improved and had more confidence,” Hein said. “The guys in front of me were playing better too, which took a lot of stress away.”

The team came home and they rattled off two huge wins at home including a 2-1 thriller over Plattsburgh to end their home schedule. The leadership of the team captain, senior midfielder Francesco Cardillo, kept the Bengals going throughout the season. His goal in the 90^th minute of that that game kept Buffalo State’s postseason hopes alive.

It put the icing on the cupcake that any athlete would want in their final home game, both literally and figuratively, as the team celebrated the win by indulging themselves with cupcakes that Hunter Hein’s mom had made for the team to celebrate his birthday.

Cardillo reflected upon the time he’s spent here at Buffalo State with his Bengal family.

“I had a great time and two great seasons here at Buffalo state,” Cardillo said. “The program and the school gave me every opportunity to succeed on and off the field and were supportive and great in helping me reach my goals. Buffalo State, the athletic department and the soccer program all contributed in making my time here at Buffalo State memorable.”

Cardillo is considering staying with the program next year as a coach.

Looking forward to 2015, the Bengals will be one year older and one year smarter. Howlett’s players believe in his ability to lead the program into the future.

“The program is headed in the right direction thanks to coach Howlett. He’s brought the program, as a whole, back to life with the playoffs last year and the rebuilding that is currently under way. He has brought a sense of pride to the program and the players are proud to say ‘I’m a member of Buffalo State Men’s Soccer’,” Hein said.

The expectations will be bigger next season and the players understand that.

Cardillo envisions a very bright future for Buffalo State’s men’s soccer program.

“The program is growing and I believe in the next couple of years this program will compete and win a SUNYAC championship. Under Coach Howlett, the possibilities for this program are endless.”

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