CLEVELAND, Ohio – The St. Bonaventure women's soccer team suffered a 1-0 setback on the road at Cleveland State on Sunday afternoon, ending up on the wrong side of some late game heroics.
 
A scoreless tie lasted until the 87^th minute as the Vikings (2-3-1) buried their 20th and final shot of the game. Senior Mayra Sesmas broke the tie, pushing it just past junior goalkeeper Juliana Castellano.
 
Prior to the game-winning score, Castellano and the Bonaventure defense had been sturdy, turning away chance after chance. Fourth-year Bonnies defender Hannah Walker made several incredible plays in the first half, sprinting alongside a breakaway to make a last-second tackle in the 27th minute before sending away a promising cross later in the half.
 
Walker's impact did not stop at the break, though. As the Vikings took advantage of a miscommunication on the opening kickoff of the second half, they began thundering downfield towards the net. Castellano was forced to push out into the box and make an attempt on the ball, but she was unsuccessful. Just as it looked like a certain goal, Walker dove in front of the shot and sent it out of play to keep the game level.
 
Castellano, who made six saves, also had her fair share of outstanding stops. A near-perfect cross in the 73^rd minute left a CSU attacker open for a blast from the middle, but the junior leaped up and punched the shot over the crossbar.
 
Though held scoreless, Bona's offense had several great opportunities which were denied, especially in the final 10 minutes.

In the 81st minute, a beautiful feed from graduate student Giovanna Coghetto set up freshman Caitlyn Kellogg with a shot on goal, but an outstretched save shut things down. Six minutes later, Kellogg got a second chance and sent a rocket over the goalkeeper's head, but it devastatingly bounced off the crossbar. A corner kick with 30 seconds remaining was knocked around and turned away to seal the result, as the Bonnies (1-3-2) were unable to end their five-game road streak on a high note.
 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MELISSA SHERWOOD
"Today was a hard lesson in the importance of being clinical. We hit the post with the net wide open after a great dribble. We hit the crossbar twice. We missed on another one-on-one with the goalkeeper and multiple other good chances. And to concede in the last minutes was gut-wrenching. We certainly shot ourselves in the foot today. We have to learn from it quickly and the players need to squeeze more in the next game."
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies will be back in action next Thursday, returning to the Marra Athletics Complex to face Long Island at 1 p.m.
 
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