Sept. 20, 2006

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - The St. Bonaventure men's soccer team dropped its home opener in a 3-1 decision to Niagara on Wednesday evening at McGraw-Jennings Field.

The Bonnies - who played their previous six games on the road - found themselves in a 1-0 hole just 36 seconds into the contest when Kwame Oduro beat Bona goalkeeper Massimo Collu-Marchese with a shot to the top-right corner. Niagara would tally two more goals before the midway point of the first half to lead St. Bonaventure 3-0.

The Bonnies responded in the 38th minute when junior forward Nikola Vasilev picked up a loose ball in front of the net and fired a shot past Purple Eagle keeper John Fiutowski to make the score 3-1 heading into halftime.

St. Bonaventure had two key scoring opportunities in what turned out to be a physical second half (four yellow cards and one red card), but could not convert. The first opportunity came when midfielder Phil Amahazion took an acrobatic shot in front of the Niagara net, but was stopped by a diving Fiutowski. Later in the half, freshman Tyler Bellamy had a chance at an open-net, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.

Vasilev and midfielder Jon Lopez tallied three shots each to help the Bonnies out-shoot Niagara 12-10. Collu-Marchese and Fiutowski each recorded three saves.

The loss drops St. Bonaventure to 0-7 on the season, while Niagara improved to 2-4.

St. Bonaventure is off until Saturday, when it will face Canisius in Buffalo. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.