Oct. 14, 2007
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - In the club's highest scoring effort since their season opening 3-1 victory at Cleveland State, the St. Bonaventure men's soccer team tallied three scores in its 3-2 overtime win over Charlotte at McGraw-Jennings Field Sunday afternoon.
The Bonnies fourth victory surpasses the club's three-win season of a year ago and improves their overall record to 4-4-1 and 1-1 in the Atlantic 10, while the 49ers drop to 6-5, 0-2 following their second straight defeat in league play.
"Our focus this weekend was to pick up some points in the A-10 standings and keep us in the hunt," said head coach Mel Mahler. "I was really impressed with how we were able to refocus after Friday's disappointment and display our mental fortitude in finding a way to win in overtime."
Senior Nikola Vasilev's fourth goal of the season clinched the Bonnies' first win in conference play when his shot at the 98:37 mark found the right corner of the net from 16 yards out. The Bulgarian international tallied three shots on target for the afternoon and picked up his second game-winner of the season.
For only the second time this season, the Brown and White opened the scoring, this time in the seventh minute when senior Nick Lopez registered his first goal of the season to make the score 1-0. Lopez accepted a perfectly played through ball from sophomore Stephen Bortolon and fired the ball past sophomore goalkeeper David Martin into the right corner of the net from eight yards out.
Just under seven minutes later, senior Tom Woollard evened the score at 1-1 in the 14th minute after flicking the ball over freshman goalkeeper David Flynn from eight yards out. Reigning A-10 Co-Player of the Week Chris Salvaggione assisted on the 49ers' first score and put his side ahead 2-1 when his shot from 20 yards deflected off a Brown and White defender into the top right corner of the net for his team-best sixth goal of the season.
Following a scoreless 34 minutes, the Bonnies knotted the score at 2-2 in the 50th minute when senior Jon Lopez corralled senior Tom Burkett's corner kick in the box and beat Martin into the center of the net for his first goal of the season.
After being outshot by Saint Louis in the A-10 opener, the Bonnies picked up the offensive pace against the 49ers by possessing a 16-12 shot advantage for the contest. Bortolon and Burkett each fired three shots in this afternoon's match to equal Vasilev's total.
Flynn recorded his fourth collegiate victory in net and his first in the conference after turning away seven shots in 99 minutes of action.
"This weekend we witnessed a wonderful step forward in our program and I am extremely happy for all 29 of our players, especially those that saw little or no time on the field," said Mahler. "Any success we have will be dependant upon the willingness of those individuals to train hard. These are the young men who make training competitive and while they may feel their efforts go unnoticed, they need to understand how important of a role they played this weekend."
The Bonnies return to action on Saturday, Oct. 20 when they travel to Duquesne for a 7:30 p.m. kick-off.
