ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Three first half goals sent the St. Bonaventure University men's soccer team to a 4-1 victory over Bucknell Tuesday on Senior Night at the Marra Athletics Complex.
The Bonnies (6-5-3) struck for their most goals before halftime in exactly 14 years to the day, last scoring three times before intermission on Oct. 15, 2010, when the Bonnies shut out La Salle, 3-0.
Umechi Akuazaoku started the scoring for the hosts in the 19th minute when Kenzo Brito and Andres Javitt linked up on the play for the assists.
The Bonnies doubled their lead just seven minutes later in the 26th minute when Mattia Ferretti found the back of the net off feeds from Keegan Dawson and Brito.
Bucknell (4-6-3), however, cut the deficit in half in the 31st minute on a goal from Mason Lillis.
The Brown and White capped off their first-half scoring in the 39th minute when Will O'Connor, who had just substituted into the game, laced a shot across net for the first goal of his collegiate career. Callum Shillington and Rashid Aroza were credited with an assists on the play.
In the 69th minute, Neshawn Sutherland put the game out of reach for good when he pounced a rebound chance following a shot from Javitt, netting the first goal of his career as well.
Freshman goalkeeper Ben Choudry earned his second win of the season, making a career-high four saves.
The Bonnies improved to 3-1-2 on home turf this season, including 3-0-2 in their last five contests at the Marra Complex.
Prior to kickoff, the Bonnies honored Sean Morfin, Bo Drath, Xaver Ehrlich, Mattia Ferretti, Kenzo Brito, Umechi Akuazaoku, Mo Tall, Andres Javitt, Keegan Dawson, Liam Horgan, Tristan Szczepanski, Rashid Aroza and Gabriel Kiekenbeck as part of Senior Night.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH KWAME ODURO
"When you score goals, obviously that's fun, but on Senior Night to display what we did tonight was excellent. It shows the kind of players and character that we have; it makes my job special. To win on Senior Night the way we did, in the fashion we did, all the credit goes to our boys and hopefully it leads us into Saturday."
"We trust all our goalkeepers. Pucci has been getting the nod, but we believe in all of them. Tonight was Ben's chance to step in and play and I thought he did a good job."
"There are still three Atlantic 10 games to go but you take it one game at a time. We host Dayton here on Saturday and that is our only focus right now moving forward."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies remain at home to host Dayton Saturday, Oct. 19. Kickoff is slated for 12:00 p.m.
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