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St. Bonaventure Men's Soccer
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ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - The St. Bonaventure men's soccer team opens the 2012 season with six consecutive games on the road. The first of those games comes this Saturday (Aug. 25) at Bowling Green.
The Bonnies begin this season looking to rectify a disappointing 2011 campaign. This young team returns all of its starters from last season as well as 100 percent of its scoring. St. Bonaventure was always competitive last season as nine of its 19 matches were decided by just one goal. The Bonnies came out on top in three of those games finishing 2011 with a 4-12-3 record.
Juniors James Reed, Brad Vanino and Emmett O'Connor are the returning offensive leaders of this team having accounted for 55 percent of St. Bonaventure points last season. Reed scored a team high five goals in 2011. O'Connor led the way with six assists. Vanino and O'Connor were each named to the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team as freshmen in 2010.
Current Bonnies head coach Mel Mahler is a former head coach at Bowling Green having served there from 1995-2003. While there he led the Falcons to three NCAA Tournament appearances (1995-96-97), three regular season Mid-American Conference championships (1996, 2000, 2002) and three MAC tournament titles (1995-96-97). He was named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Regional Coach of the Year in 1996, the MAC Coach of the Year in 1996 and 2002 and the Ohio Collegiate Coach of the Year in 1996 and 1997.
Last season Bowling Green got a result in 56 percent of its matches, going 7-8-3. That mark included a 4-2-1 record at Cochrane Field. Sophomore Danny Baraldi was recently named to the Preseason All-MAC Team by College Sports Madness. The sophomore, who was named to the second team by the web site, led the Falcons in goals (five), assists (eight) and points (18) a year ago. Baraldi was involved in 13 of the team's 22 goals last season.
These two teams last met on Sept. 5, 2004. On that day the Bonnies came away with a 4-1 victory at home.
The Bonnies have been selected to finish 15th in the Atlantic 10 in 2012 while Bowling Green has been selected to finish sixth in the MAC.
The ball gets rolling at Cochrane Field at 7:00 p.m. Saturday evening.
Following the weekend, the Bonnies will travel to Buffalo for a date with the Big 4 rival Bulls on Tuesday (Aug. 28) at 7:00 p.m. They will follow that up by traveling to Harrisonburg, Va. for the James Madison University Tournament where they will face off with James Madison (Aug. 31) and Virginia Tech (Sept. 2).
