BARBOURVILLE, Ky. (Sept. 19, 2015) â€" Nick Smith and Brandon May combined for seven saves as the Buffaloes turned up the physicality early in the second half, but it was not enough as the Milligan College men's soccer team was defeated 3-0 by Union College on Saturday afternoon at Williamson Stadium.
 
The Buffs fell to 2-7 overall and 1-1 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference with their first conference loss, while the Bulldogs record raised to 5-0-2 and 1-0-1 after starting the season 4-0 and playing to draws in each of their last two matches.
 
Zana Ali had three shots, all in the second half, to lead Milligan in offense, while Jonathan Colson had two shots, both on goal and in the first half, and Tapiwa Kaseke added one shot in each half. Additionally, Smith made five saves in the goal.
 
The Bulldogs began the match with a fast and furious offensive attack, tallying four shots in the first two and a half minutes and six shots in the first six minutes.
 
Next, Union put together another string of near scores with three shots and one corner try in less than two minutes between the 25:41 and 23:57 marks, and then with 13:35 remaining in the half, finally broke through with a score from Louis Nuttal on the assist from Andre Scott with what was also the Bulldogs 11th shot of 13 total in the half. Additionally, Union could have scored more as it had three shots in the first half that deflected off the Milligan crossbar.
 
Smith made four saves in the opening period while Milligan was outshot 13-4.
 
The second half was a change of pace for the Buffs, who seemed to come out of the locker room with "new life" and looked to answer the bell physically. Milligan had its best chances to tie the match early in the second when Kaseke missed a shot wide from right in front of the goal less than two minutes in, followed by an entry pass from Nathan Sloan that was punched away by the leaping Union keeper Marcelo Mercuri.
 
With 33:26 remaining, Ali missed his first of three shots in the second half, beginning a period of over 10 minutes were play seemed to be centered around the midfield with neither team pushing the issue offensively.
 
That changed at about the 20 minute mark when the Bulldogs got four corner kick opportunities in two minutes, three of which were in about 50 seconds, leading to two missed shots saved by May before finally breaking through on a goal by Steve Moore, his first since 2013, after a stop by May deflected right to Union.
 
Just over three minutes later, the Bulldogs scored again as Scott, who assisted on Union's first goal, scored off the breakaway pass from Justin Wilkinson to put the match out of reach.
 
Overall, Union outshout the Buffs 19-8, including 10-3 on shots on goal.
 
Milligan will head to Beckley, West Virginia, for a nonconference tilt with the West Virginia Tech Golden Bears on Sept. 22, and then returns home on Sept. 26 to host Tennessee Wesleyan College and kick off a three-match home stand against AAC opponents.