ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure women's soccer team fell short of a comeback on Sunday afternoon, losing 3-2 to George Washington on home turf despite a late rally.
 
A free kick score in the fifth minute from graduate student Paula Sanabria Diaz gave the Bonnies (3-8-2, 0-5 A-10) an energetic start to the match, though control began to slip away from the hosts soon after.
 
George Washington (4-6-3, 1-4 A-10) recuperated quickly after conceding the early goal, getting on the board in the 18th minute as Julia Bilal netted a header from a corner kick opportunity. Just a few moments later, the visitors would break the tie, going on a run down the sideline before serving an accurate cross to Elizabeth Cruz, who leaped up and finished off the chance.
 
A lull in scoring followed and persisted through the rest of the half. Starting goalkeeper Adelaide Paredes made a flashy save just before the break to keep the advantage at one, tracking a shot from deep and eventually punching the ball over the crossbar to end the threat. The sophomore played full time and made four total saves.
 
In the second half, Bona came out with a new offensive energy, finding sophomore forward Ekemini Udofa down the sideline on two promising breakaways which were both denied at the last second. Graduate student Giovanna Coghetto had a similar run during the opening moments of the half, but she too was stopped by the Revolutionaries' back line.
 
Early in the second stanza, George Washington began to ramp up the pressure. Paredes was forced to make two key saves at point blank range, both coming back-to-back in the 65th minute, though she would not be able to halt the visiting offense for long. Six minutes later, the Revolutionaries found pay dirt after a saved shot rebounded back into play for an easy score.
 
Though the visitors widened the gap under 20 minutes to play, the Bonnies did not roll over in the game's final stretch. An 84th-minute transition downfield saw Coghetto make a beautiful pass at the midfield line over to senior Hannah Walker, who dribbled all the way in and finished the opportunity for her second career goal. Nearly 80 minutes of game time separated the two Bonaventure scores.
 
Though the Brown and White brought the match back within one late, some effective time-wasting maneuvers from George Washington saw the clock tick down to zeroes.
 
St. Bonaventure was outshot in the match, 14-7.
 
Walker was honored prior to kickoff as she received the Dr. Neal J. Johnson Women's Soccer Scholarship.
 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MELISSA SHERWOOD
"We did a lot of good things today. I think it's probably our best performance so far. We had a great start to the game, which shows a good mentality coming off a tough loss."

"I think the important thing is the reaction, and to keep going and fighting. When you score two goals in the game, you don't expect to be coming out of it losing. The mistakes that led to those goals were very costly today, but we have to keep building on the positives."
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies return to action next Sunday, traveling to face Fordham at 1 p.m.

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