Sept. 6, 2009
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - Just two days after giving up three unanswered goals in a loss, the St. Bonaventure women's soccer team was the one supplying the scoring frenzy on Sunday afternoon, tallying three unanswered goals of its own in the second half en route to a 3-1 win over Buffalo at McGraw-Jennings Field.
The win snaps a three-game losing skid for the Brown and White and moves their record to 2-3 heading into a five-game road trip. Playing their fifth consecutive road game to start the season, the Bulls drop to 0-5.
"I was happy with the way we played today. We did a good job of possessing the ball and finding feet," said head coach Manoj Khettry. "Shannon Van Riper really helped us in the midfield by giving us the physical presence we were lacking. I'm glad the team met the challenge of playing and competing for a full 90 minutes."
The first half saw each team dominate a 20-minute interval at the beginning and the end of the period. St. Bonaventure controlled much of the play in the opening 20 minutes, generating a scoring chance in the 21st minute when Van Riper gathered a loose ball on a free kick, but missed high on a good look from the middle of the goal box.
Buffalo's best scoring opportunity in the first half came in the 33rd minute when Stephanie Velez hit a rocket of a shot from nearly 30 yards out that bounced square off the cross bar.
After a scoreless opening 45 minutes, Buffalo wasted little time in getting on the board in the second half. This time, Velez didn't miss, drilling a shot past the Bona keeper off a nice pass from Lindsey Bailey to five the Bulls a 1-0 advantage.
It took St. Bonaventure just 52 seconds to respond to the game's first goal with one of its own. Sophomore Tori Burchett started the play by drawing a foul deep in the UB side of the field that led to a free kick. Sophomore Janelle Taylor put the kick on the far right post where it was headed home by sophomore Dakota Carroll to tie the score at 1-1.
The Bulls had a chance to take back the momentum and the lead in the 54th minute, but a diving save by freshman Kathryn Kerkman at the top of the goal box preserved the 1-1 score.
Kerkman's big save resulted in another big play out of the Bona offense, as it was the one-two punch of juniors Courtney Bosse and Anna Cunningham giving the Brown and White their first lead at the 57:41 mark. Bosse beat the Buffalo defense down the right sideline and crossed the ball right into the middle of the box for Cunningham to head home for the goal.
St. Bonaventure wasn't finished, though, and in the 85th minute put the game away on Burchett's second goal of the weekend off of a pass from Carroll.
The Bulls were never able to get any offensive flow going after Kerkman's big save. Buffalo generated just one shot over the final 37 minutes of action.
Kerkman finished with three saves in her first career start in net. Buffalo keeper Danielle Quigley also made her collegiate debut.
St. Bonaventure will spend the next three weeks on the road, playing its final four non-conference games and its Atlantic 10 opener. The Bonnies will begin their five-game road swing next weekend with a pair of games in Ohio starting with Bowling Green on Friday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m.
"We have a stretch of five very tough road games and we need to compete as hard as we did today in all of those games if we're going to give ourselves a chance to win."
