Niagara FC - 2, Buffalo Bantu - 1

The weather was perfect for our 4pm game at the D’Youville turf on Sunday. The away game marked the season opener for Niagara FC, and debut game for new additions Kyle Jones, Sam Colao, and Tyler VanBuren. Those who were not present include Frankie Valente, Robert Stevens (red card – suspended), and Tyler Gretchin (new signing). Everyone else on the Niagara FC roster was present.

There was a lot of feeling each other out in the first half. We moved the ball well for the majority of the first half, creating quite a few chances, including a bar-out shot by Cesar Carlin. About half-way through the half, midfielder Mike Curatolo netted a beautifully placed shot, post-in, bottom left corner to put Niagara up 1-0 (assisted by Josh VanBuren). Later in the half a soft foul by Niagara defender Jack Tewsley resulted in a Bantu penalty kick that ended up in the back of the net.

In the second half, the back and forth continued. We did a good job holding off Bantu’s long ball attack while still generating chances offensively. A red card for Niagara FC’s Josh VanBuren had us playing with 10 men for the majority of the second half. Eventually our persistence on offense paid off, with new signing Sam Colao scoring a scrappy goal off a corner in by Russ Quarantello and deflection by Seth Rougeux. The goal put us up 2-1 and that is how the game would finish.

Additional comments about the game… A good contest between the two teams and we wish Buffalo Bantu good luck in their games to come. The game was a bit chippy, but all-in-all fair play by every guy on the pitch. The officiating was a little inconsistent but no team earned any significant advantage as a result.

-Ryan O’Keefe (Niagara FC)