Nov. 1, 2008

Final Stats

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - With its postseason hopes on the line, the St. Bonaventure women's soccer team picked up its third consecutive victory on Saturday night with a 3-1 win at Duquesne at Rooney Field and in the process clinched the programs second-ever berth into next week's Atlantic 10 Tournament.

The A-10 postseason appearance the program's first since 1999, as the Bonnies (11-7-1) finished the regular season with a 6-4-1 mark in league play, good for 19 points. The six conference wins surpasses the school record of five held by the 1999 club, while the team's 11 overall wins is now just one shy of the tying the program record.

"I'm ecstatic for my young team because they were fantastic tonight," said head coach Manoj Khettry, who was treated to a Gatorade shower following the game. "Anna and Courtney really came to play and caused a lot of problems all night for their defenders. We had some other great individual performances, but everyone who stepped onto the field played with a real desire to get us into the A-10 Tournament."

The Brown and White will find out their seeding and opponent for next week's A-10 Tournament when regular season play wraps up on Sunday. St. Bonaventure will earn the fifth seed with a La Salle loss at Dayton or will be issued the sixth seed with a La Salle win. As the fifth seed, the Bonnies would square off against the host Saint Louis, who earned the fourth seed with their win over UMass on Friday. If seeded sixth, St. Bonaventure will take on either Dayton or Fordham.

The A-10 Tournament will commence at Robert R. Hermann Stadium in St. Louis, Mo., on Thursday, Nov. 6, with the third seed taking on the sixth seed at 5:30 p.m. That game will be immediate followed by the fourth seed against the fifth seed at 8 p.m. The semifinal round will be played on Friday, while the championship match will take place on Sunday.

The pair of first half goals that resulted in St. Bonaventure's 2-0 lead at the half both came off of the team's two right-footed Michigan natives. Sophomores Anna Cunningham and Marilyn Wargo tallied goals just four minutes apart to get the visitor's off to an ideal start.

"Our first two goals were two of the best goals and probably the most important goals that we scored all season" said Khettry. "Playing on the road in an elimination game and having a two-goal lead is so important for a young team's confidence."

St. Bonaventure's first boost of confidence came in the 22nd minute on a great individual effort from Cunningham. With the ball in the Duquesne side of the field, Cunningham gained possession of the ball from a Duke defender and without hesitation fired a shot from 25-yards out into the upper right corner of the net.

Just four minutes later the Brown and White struck again as Wargo made it a two-goal lead, 2-0, at the 26:21 mark. From just outside the six-yard goal box, Wargo volleyed home a ball from classmate Courtney Bosse that lifted just high enough to clear the outstretched hands of the Duquesne keeper and inside the near right post.

Both teams threatened on the offensive several times before the end of the first half, but came away with nothing as the Bonnies held on tight to their 2-0 advantage.

A determined Duquesne club applied consistent pressure in the opening minutes of the second half and it paid off just four minutes in as Annie Reid made it a 2-1 game with goal from point blank range.

Despite consistent pressure by the Dukes that resulted in a 11-4 shot advantage in the final 45 minutes, St. Bonaventure regained its two-goal lead in the 82nd minute on penalty kick by freshman Hannah Lapp to take a 3-1 edge. The team's first penalty kick of the season was made possible when freshman Tori Burchett was fouled in the box while trying to split a pair of Duquesne defenders.

Sophomore goalie Nicole Markert, who has logged every minute in net this season, helped stop the Duquesne comeback with eight saves. Markert stopped five shots in the second half.

Game Notes
- St. Bonaventure's six A-10 wins is now a program-best
- The Bonnies went 6-1-1 in its last eight A-10 games
- Duquesne's goal to open the second half broke a 271-minute shutout streak by the Bonnies
- The Bonnies have outscored their opponents 11-1 during their current three-game win streak
- Anna Cunningham now has 30 points on the season - the fifth best total in program history
- Cunningham is just the third player in school history to have 10 goals and 10 assists in the same season
- St. Bonaventure is now 9-2-1 in games that either Cunningham or Courtney Bosse has scored in