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ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure women's soccer team enters its final regular-season weekend of the season looking to earn its fifth consecutive berth in the Atlantic 10 Championship.
The Bonnies open their final homestand of the year against Massachusetts on Friday at 3 p.m. before holding Senior Day on Sunday against Rhode Island in a 1 p.m. match.
Bonaventure (6-10-1 overall) currently sits at 3-4 in the A-10, good for nine points and in a three-way tie for 9th place with Rhode Island and Fordham. Bona is one point out of the 8th, and final, postseason spot, which is currently shared by Richmond and UMass.
Multiple scenarios exist for the Bonnies to qualify for the A-10 Championship, but their easiest route into postseason play is by sweeping UMass and URI and having Fordham split its two games, or at worst record a win and a tie. St. Bonaventure can mathematically qualify with only one win this weekend, but the probability is extremely low.
The Brown and White would not even be in a position to qualify for the postseason this weekend if not for a valiant late-game comeback victory on Sunday at Xavier. Trailing 1-0 with just eight minutes remaining, sophomore Brittany Charles scored off her own corner kick to tie the contest, and classmate Molly Curry won it with a header off Charles's ball in the second overtime.
The assist gave Charles her sixth of the year, tying her for 10th on the program's single-season assist list. The three-point weekend also propelled the Ohio native to the top of SBU's point list with 10.
After being outshot in the non-conference schedule by a total of 157-107, the Bona offensive attack has come alive in league play where it is out-shooting its seven opponents, 99-84, led by a team-high 23 from freshman Abby Maiello – a total which ranks tied for ninth among all A-10 players.
UMass heads onto the McGraw-Jennings turf with a 3-3-1 A-10 mark and an 8-8-1 overall record. Moa Mattson leads the attack for the Minutewomen as she ranks fourth in the A-10 in points with 23, fifth in points per game (1.35), but most importantly tops all conference players with five game-winning goals.
URI enters play this weekend with a 10-7-1 overall record and a 3-4 mark in league action. The Rams are coming off back-to-back shutouts over George Washington and Charlotte and open the weekend by traveling to Duquesne on Friday. While UMass is second in the A-10 in yellow cards with 13, Rhody has proven to carry an aggressive style of play as well as it has committed 176 fouls, a total which ranks second in the league.
