By SPENCER BATES
OLEAN — After a week away from the field, Olean 1854 showed that the time off was not detrimental, putting together a well-rounded effort in its 2-1 victory over Buffalo United SS.
The Roughnecks were aggressive in their surges up the field, pinning Buffalo back on defense for the grand majority of the first half. And when it came time to defend their advantage, they expertly repelled one attack after another.
Thinking back to his team’s last game, a 4-2 June 8 loss to the Borussia Bees, the BDSL Premier League’s second-place squad, Olean’s team captain Ryan Arvin recalled seeing a level of hunger brew after the match. And according to him, that desire to continue improving was extremely evident against Buffalo.
“I think the (Borussia Bees) result, I was happy with it, but some guys thought we could have got more out of the result,” Arvin said. “They wanted more, and that makes my life really easy. I think the guys had something to prove.”
In the first half, Olean FC jumped on the board relatively fast, thanks to a close range effort from Chance LaCroix, who beat the Buffalo goalkeeper from a tight angle. The visitors were able to respond with a hefty amount of pressure of their own in a direct response, but Olean’s offense continued to wreak havoc and not long after he scored his first, LaCroix doubled his tally on the evening through means of a penalty kick.
“Chance has it offensively, I don’t have to teach him that. But the main thing with Chance has been, if you work harder off the ball, you will get in better spots on the ball, and he’s done that,” Arvin said. “Instead of picking the ball up in our half, he’s picking it up in their half. He showed presence, he showed fight, it was a full performance from him.”
Olean 1854 FC’s Hudson Kwiatkowski (20) gets up for a header against Buffalo United SS. (Spencer Bates)
After the intermission, offensive momentum ended up changing hands. However, Arvin noted the shift was not a fault of his team, it was simply a matter of Buffalo being desperately in need of goals themselves. In fact, Olean still managed to construct a number of quality opportunities that had the chance to put the game to rest.
“We had a couple opportunities to score a third and if you score that one, it’s curtains. But if you don’t, then you’re battling,” Arvin said. “I didn’t think we sat too deep, I thought we played smart and slowed the game down. I don’t think it was anything attributed to them outplaying us or anything, it was more just what the game required.”
The Roughnecks were sound defensively throughout the second interval, but a momentary lapse allowed Buffalo to find a route back into the game as they tapped home from a poorly taken corner that caught the hosts off guard.
Buffalo kept its foot on the pedal, but the equalizer it was in search of never came as Olean was able to outlast its guests.
“I thought we just kept the game in front of us pretty well,” Arvin said. “They did a good job of getting the ball wide and getting numbers into the box, we had a little trouble with that. But with this team, we’ll die before we give up. Everyone was committed to getting the result. If you have that, it’s pretty hard to lose.”
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Cattaraugus County FC had the early game on the day, looking to pull out an upset over third-place BSC Raiders for their first win of the campaign.
Unfortunately for CCFC, a victory was not in the cards as they fell 9-0.
Jonathan Correa led the Raiders with two second-half goals. He was backed up by Larry Noel who found the back of the net and assisted on the game’s opening goal.
Cattaraugus County FC’s Alex Linderman (23, left) battles for possession with a BSC Raiders attacker. (Spencer Bates)
Next up for Olean 1854 FC is an away affair on July 6 against Celtic United at Buffalo State’s Coyer Field. As for Cattaraugus County FC, they will face Polonia Legacy, the only other winless team in the BDSL Premier League, on June 29 at Olean Middle School with kickoff slated for 5 p.m.
