ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure men's soccer team (1-0) jumped out to an early two goal lead and held on as they defeated Buffalo (0-1) on Friday (Aug. 30) evening in its home opener by a score of 3-1. 

The Bonnies started out quick with two goals in rapid succession scoring in the 27th and 29th minute. It all began when Emmett O'Connor made a deep run into the Bulls end and passed it into the middle to find Nicholas Perillo who drilled it home for the first goal of its young 2013 season. This assist for O'Connor makes him two shy of tying the all-time record for assists. He is currently at 20. Bonaventure quickly doubled their lead after O'Connor brought the ball into Buffalo territory and went for the shot that was blocked but Brad Beaumont was there waiting to clean up and put it in the back of the net for a score of 2-0.

SBU continued its scoring trend in the second half at the 56th when Perillo returned the favor from earlier and lined up O'Connor for a shot which he put home for his first goal on the season. The Bulls would get that goal back four minutes later after Russell Cicerone was able to find the corner of the net. St. Bona's was able to hold on and secure a 3-1 victory over Big 4 rival.

"It's a great way to start the season. I'm real happy for the guys" head coach Mel Mahler said after the game. "They played a good game from first to last whistle. It's good to score goals. Our main focus in the preseason was to become a better defending team, and their goal was deserved but for the most part we did well defending. We absorbed when we had to and nullified some quality chances by Buffalo."

Despite allowing a goal late in the game Jeremy Figler, the redshirt junior from Grand Island, N.Y. made his presence known in his first game in net for the Bonnies. On many different occasions he had the awareness to come out and punch the ball away from the oncoming attack. Figler faced six shots which only required three save.

"I thought Figler played real well in the net and defused a lot of chances which made life easier."

Coach Mahler also went on to say "It's good to get three different guys scoring goals. It gives us some versatility on attack, which I thought we demonstrated today." The Bonnies recorded twelve shots tonight, six coming off the foot of Brad Vanino.

"Hard fought game, give credit to Buffalo it's always a good rivalry against the two of us. It's a good start to the weekend and it's time to refocus and get ready for Niagara on Sunday and hopefully come out 2-0 over the weekend."

St. Bonaventure is back in action on Sunday, Sept 1 when they travel to Niagara University to take on the Purple Eagles (0-1). Kick-off is scheduled for 2:00 PM.