Nov. 6, 2008

Final Stats

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Julia Bradenberg's goal in the 71st minute broke a 1-1 tie and propelled fourth-seeded Saint Louis to a 2-1 win over the fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure women's soccer team in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Championship on Thursday evening at Hermann Stadium.

The loss caps one of the most memorable seasons in program history as the Bonnies finished 11-8-1 overall for the 10th winning season in program history and the first in six seasons.

"Give credit to Saint Louis. They were the better, more experienced team today and they deserved to win," said head Manoj Khettry, who was recently tabbed the A-10 Coach of the Year. "We needed to experience playing in this environment where the stakes are so high. For this young team, it was a great learning experience and hopefully we'll grow from this."

The Billikens got on the board first in just the fifth minute of the game when Christine Steinmetz tallied her first goal of the season off an assist from Andrea Barklage. The goal was officially scored at the 5:42 mark to give SLU a 1-0 lead.

Despite the early pressure from the Billikens, the Brown and White were able to answer with the equalizing goal of the foot of freshman Tori Burchett. Sophomore Courtney Bosse started the scoring chance as she dropped a perfectly placed pass in-between a pair of Billiken defenders to the feet of Burchett. The Hinsdale, Ill., native then beat the SLU keeper with a shot to the near post at the 26:28 mark to knot the score at 1-1.

The final 19 minutes of the half were more evenly played, but saw Saint Louis muster plenty of shots on goal. St. Bonaventure sophomore keeper Nicole Markert had a busy opening 45 minutes, making five saves. SLU held a 10-6 shot advantage at the break.

The A-10's top defense kept the Bona attack under wraps in the opening 25 minutes of the final stanza, limiting the Bonnies to just one corner kick and one shot on goal over that span.

Good defense translated into the eventual game-winning goal in the 71st minute as Bradenberg, an A-10 All-Conference second team choice, received pass from Megan Yossi and beat Markert in the upper corner of the near post. The goal was Bradenberg's sixth of the season, while Yossi's assist came just 53 seconds after she entered the game.

St. Bonaventure managed just one shot the rest of the way as the Billikens held on to advance to Friday's semifinal round.

"I'm proud of how we played this year. It was a great season and this team exceeded everyone's expectations, including my own," Khettry said. "Everyone, including myself, will get better and that's our challenge."

The Brown and White's first A-10 Championship berth resulted from a program-best six league wins. All six of the team's wins came over the final eight regular season games, in which they went 6-1-1. The St. Bonaventure will return all 20 players from this year's roster in 2009. The youthful Bona roster sported two juniors, seven sophomores and 11 freshmen this season.

"We are going to improve and with everyone coming back I'm excited by what the future holds of St. Bonaventure soccer."