Newark, Del. – The St. Bonaventure men's soccer team (4-1) dropped their first match of the season against the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens (4-1) by a score of 3-0 in a Friday evening match.

The Bonnies were able to keep the pressure on Delaware in the first-half but would remain scoreless at the end of 45 minutes. Eric Smolarek would get the first opportunity for the Brown and White with a shot in the 10th minute that would be blocked by the Blue Hens goalkeeper. Brad Vanino would follow up only a minute later with a shot that would lead to a SBU corner kick. At the 22nd mark, James Reed would receive a cross from outside the box where he could get up above the defenders for a heading attempt on goal. Less than a minute later SBU would find it's self on the attack once again where Emmett O'Connor would collect a cross inside the box and attempt to head it in but would come up short. 

The Blue Hens would get on the board first with a goal coming off the feet of Guillermo Delgado at the 49th minute mark. Later in the game Delaware would to double their lead at the 75th minute after Joe Dipre would be able to find the back of the net for his second on the year. The freshman phenom Delgado would continue his dominance over the SBU defense by leading his squad to a 3-0 lead at the 89th minute and ultimately the Bonnies first lost on the year.

"A disappointing night," said Bonnies head coach Mel Mahler. "Delaware is a very good team and it was a match were we didn't finish our chances and they did. We knew the chances would be less than previous matches but we felt if we could defend well & counter we could have success."

Coach Mahler would continue on to add "While they had more possession we felt we could get a goal or two and get a good road victory. Just didn't work that way. Last two goals were a result of us pushing forward to go get the equalizer and they did well to counter." 

St. Bonaventure was outshot 17 -5 but only six of the Delaware 17 shots were on target.  Bona keeper Jeremy Figler was required to make four saves on the day. St. Bona's was able to record a season-high nine corner kicks during the game. 

Head Coach Mahler finished up by saying, "We need to regroup and find a way to get a win Sunday. That's our focus now."

The Bonnies are back in action on Sunday, Sept. 15 were they will face off against the NJIT Highlanders in Newark, N.J. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.