ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - Behind two second half goals from senior Sam Maheu, the St. Bonaventure men's soccer team earned a 2-0 shutout win over Big 4 rival Canisius on a cool Friday evening at McGraw-Jennings Field.

The win snaps a two-game slide for the Bonnies and improves their record to 2-4 on the season, while the Griffs remaining winless at 0-4-1.

"It's great to get a win at home. I think we made real good progress today," said head coach Mel Mahler. "Canisius made it difficult for us in the first because they played a low pressure style, which made it difficult for us to attack."

The Griffs limited the Brown and White to just two shots over the opening 45 minutes. The Griffs had just two shots of their own, but neither team found the back of the net for a 0-0 score at the break.

The start of Maheu's offensive explosion was partially credited to solid pressure put on the Canisius defense by the Bona forwards. Maheu collected a loose ball off a turnover outside of the Griffs' goal box and fired a shot from the right side that found the far left corner of the net for a 1-0 lead at the 62:52 mark.

Maheu struck again just under a minute and half later in the 65th minute from nearly the same spot, as he provided St. Bonaventure with an insurance goal for a 2-0 lead. The multi-goal game is the third of Maheu's career and the first since his freshman campaign.

"I'm glad our guys took the adjustments we talked about at halftime and used them in the second half," Mahler said. "We were quicker and played with more urgency. We also used our counter attack to put us in a better situation to get shots on goal, thus leading to Sam's two goals.'

Junior keeper David Flynn made three saves down the stretch to preserve his 10th career shutout.

For the game, the Brown and White held a 9-6 edge in shots, including 7-4 in the second half, and a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks.

"We have a lot of positive things to build from this win and we look forward to getting some of our injured players back a getting healthy while working hard towards our next match," said Mahler. "We have some down time to build on today's success."

St. Bonaventure will have to wait 12 days before it can attempt to put together its first winning streak of the season. The Bonnies next match will be on Wednesday, Sept. 30, when Buffalo visits McGraw-Jennings Field for another Big 4 matchup. Kick-off is slated for 4 p.m.