1971 Buffalo Bulls Soccer

by Scott Hollander
University at Buffalo Libraries

First row: Al Campagna, Nabil Youssef, Mike Abrams, Jerry Dion, Tahm Sadeghi, Bill Wood, Stuart Mace, Len Selednik. Second row: Uve Voss (manager), Mark Wigtil, Gordon McKinnon, Bill Leiker, Jim Lienert, Jim Brogan, Chip Gallagher, Bob Hayes, Dave Center, Ted Doroski, Bert Jacobsen (coach)

In the Fall of 1971, a “club” soccer team was formed at the University at Buffalo.

Bert Jacobsen served as the first coach on this first team. Coach Jacobsen played varsity soccer at Michigan State University in the late 1960s.

Seventeen Americans and nine international students formed the first U.B. roster. Tahm Sadeghi, from Iran, was their star goalkeeper. Kola Oseni, from Nigeria, led the team in scoring with six goals.

The Bulls finished their first year with 5 wins and only 1 loss. (see “Victory Ends Soccer Season” UB Spectrum, 5 November 1971) It was hoped that the successful season would be a major step towards earning “varsity” status in 1972.

1971 Buffalo Soccer Season

Date	Home Team	Score	Visiting Team	W-L-T	Location
10/5/1971	Geneseo State J.V.	1 – 2	Buffalo	W	Geneseo, NY
10/8/1971	Erie Community College	4 – 3	Buffalo	L	Buffalo, NY
10/13/1971	Buffalo	3 – 0	Fredonia State J.V.	W	Buffalo, NY
10/23/1971	St. John Fisher	0 – 2	Buffalo	W	Rochester, NY
10/27/1971	Buffalo	4 – 1	Canisius College	W	Buffalo, NY
11/2/1971	Gannon University	2 – 3 (OT)	Buffalo	W	Erie, PA

FINAL RECORD: 5-1
Coach: Bert Jacobsen

Dramatic Flourish

Victory Ends Soccer Season

by Dave Geringer

Spectrum Staff Writer

When the made the motion picture entitled, What a Way to Go, they must have had the senior members of the Bulls soccer club in mind. Eight seniors ended their club soccer careers Tuesday afternoon as the Bulls came back to edge Gannon in dramatic style, 3-2 in overtime.

Senior forward Al Campagna echoed the sentiments of the squad in stating that it was “a great way to end a career. This was without a doubt the greatest comeback I have ever seen and a great way to close a career.”

“It was a great win,” agreed Coach Bert Jacobsen, “but I’d rather not win them that way. I must have aged 20 years during the last few minutes. Actually, during the first 85 minutes we played almost as poorly as we did against Erie C.C. We were just standing around and watching them control the ballgame. Gannon stacked up the middle against us, and we just could not get the ball through. In the last few minutes I was trying to shake things up, so I put three backs up front and it worked.”

Forward switch works

As Jacobsen said, it certainly did work. Bill Leiker, who had played at halfback and fullback this season, was moved to a forward position and it was off his pass that Kola Oseni scored the winning goal in the first overtime period. Deiker’s long pass was dropped by Golden Knight’s goalkeeper Joe Felix, whose inability to hang on to the ball probably cost Gannon the game. Oseni, standing right in front of the net, knocked in the rebound for the winning marker with just ten seconds remaining in the first overtime stanza. He had scored the Bulls first goal earlier with 2:27 left, and this finished with a season total of six goals, tops on the squad. Dave Center had scored the tying marker on a rebound with just over one minute to play.

“Overall,” Jaobsen decided, “I was extremely pleased with the way we were able to pull together. Despite the fact that we were missing four of our top players (including second-ranking scorer Alex Torimiro) we showed we had good enough depth to win. I think that a finish like this can help a team’s confidence immeasurably.”

The Bulls thus finished the season with a 5-1 record, and any “expansion team” which can take five out of six contests must be considered successful. Perhaps next year Coach Jacobsen will get the perfect game he has been hoping for. However, he can always say that his inaugural Bulls squad did produce the perfect comeback victory — and the perfect way to end a season.

— UB Spectrum, Friday, November 5, 1971