Aug. 22, 2009
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - Junior Courtney Bosse capped her two-goal afternoon with a tally in the 103rd minute to vault the St. Bonaventure women's soccer team to a 2-1 double-overtime victory over visiting Syracuse in the season opener on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon at McGraw-Jennings Field.
Bosse's second career-multi goal game helped the Bonnies improve to 2-2 in season openers under reigning Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Manoj Khettry.
St. Bonaventure has won seven of its last 10 matches dating back to last year when it was victorious in six of its final eight regular season games to qualify for the A-10 Tournament.
"It's great to get a win in the home opener, but I was honest with our players that we were very fortunate because Syracuse played very well and could have won the game a few times," said Khettry. "I was really pleased with our effort in the overtimes because we came out and created opportunities that led to the eventual game-winning goal."
The first half yielded plenty of scoring chances for the Brown and White, but they were unable to convert. The best two chances came off the right foot of Bosse, as she just missed scoring inside the right post in the 11th and 16th minute.
Syracuse controlled much of the play in the first half, holding a 5-3 edge in shots and a 3-1 lead in corner kicks, but it was also unable to capitalize.
The scoreless tie came to end less than two minutes in the second half when Bosse's pass from the right side of the goal box that was headed for the back post glanced off a Syracuse defender and into the back of the net to make it 1-0. The pass was attended for junior Anna Cunningham who had broken away down the left side.
After junior keeper Nicole Markert made a sprawling save in the 66th minute to keep the Orange off the board, the visitors broke through in the 78th minute as Tina Romagnuolo scored from point-blank range to make it 1-1 off a pass from Megan Bellingham.
Syracuse continued to apply pressure over the final 12 minutes of regulation, but the Bonnies held on to force overtime.
The game was nearly over in the opening minute of the first extra frame, as Markert robbed Tessa MacDougall for the second time by diving to stop a header that appeared to be headed for the corner opening.
St. Bonaventure's gained momentum off Markert's heroics, firing four shots on goal over the two overtime periods before Cunningham's cross from the left side drifted over a Syracuse defender and redshirt freshman Shannon Van Riper right to Bosse, who drilled her second career game-winning goal.
"It was nice to see Courtney pick up where he left off this spring," Khettry said. "I thought she was dangerous the entire match and as she gets fitter and we get better, I see her continuing to score for us."
Bosse finished the match with a team-high five shots, while Cunningham produced four. For the game, Syracuse held a 15-11 edge in shots, but the overtimes favored the Bonnies by a 5-2 margin.
The win in net was the 15th of Markert's career. The Russell, Ohio, product made nine saves, including six during the second half and overtime periods combined.
St. Bonaventure will be back in action next weekend when it plays a pair of games in the state of Michigan. The Bonnies will begin at Central Michigan on Friday, Aug. 28 at 5 p.m., followed by a 1 p.m. tilt at Oakland on Sunday.
