Aug. 31, 2007

CLEVELAND, Ohio - After falling behind in the opening minutes, the St. Bonaventure men's soccer team rallied for three first half goals to defeat Cleveland State 3-1 in its season-opening match earlier tonight.

The Bonnies starting 11 was made up of a mixture of veterans and underclassmen as four seniors, four sophomores and three freshmen took the field to open the season. In his Bonnies debut, rookie goalkeeper David Flynn stopped four shots in picking up his first career victory.

"Anytime you can start the year off with a win, it's a great thing," said head coach Mel Mahler. "The result in this game validates all of the hard work the team has put forth in training."

The Vikings opened the scoring in the third minute of play when sophomore defender Steve Trapp put a rebound past Flynn off a Viking free kick from two yards out.

However, the Bonnies answered just nine minutes later as sophomore Stephen Bortolon deflected a shot into the back of the net off of the foot of senior Jon Lopez from 10 yards out for the equalizer.

The Brown and White took the lead for good with the help of the club's leading scorers from a year ago. Senior Nikola Vasilev collected a cross from sophomore Samuel Maheu in the middle of the box and blasted a shot past Viking goalkeeper Dan Duric from 15 yards out for the game-winning goal.

The offensive explosion continued for the Bonnies as freshman Dan Mitchell found the net off a superb volley from senior Tom Burkett in the 39th minute. Mitchell showed great composure as he was able to head home the final goal of the contest from five yards out.

"I thought we played really well in the first half, especially after they scored that early goal," said Mahler. "Our players didn't panic and they showed a lot of resilience and maturity to finish the way we did."

The Brown and White return to action on Labor Day for a 1 p.m. kick-off against Army in West Point, N.Y. Army defeated Philadelphia University 1-0 in its season opener.