By Taylor Nigrelli
Assitant Sports Editor
The women’s soccer team (0-3-1) will be looking for their first win of the season when Syracuse and Bucknell come to town this weekend. The Bonnies will take on Syracuse today at 5 p.m. and Bucknell Sunday at 3 p.m. While coach Manoj Khettry expects both to be tough match-ups, he explains that the Bonnies have seen success against both teams recently.
The 2012 season has been underway for nearly two weeks already but the team sits winless at 0-3-1. Despite the early struggles Khettry claims he has seen improvement each game.
“After giving up eight goals the first weekend and not scoring, we gave up only three this weekend and tied (Buffalo) on Sunday,” Khettry said. “We’re starting to play better defensively and our offense is clicking too. The freshmen are starting to get comfortable.”
After replacing 14 seniors in the past two years, the team is littered with 12 underclassmen. Khettry claims he likes to test his team early on.
“We put together a tough non-conference schedule this year to get us prepared for the intensity of conference games,” Khettry said.
Sophomore forward Molly Curry agrees that the tough games in the beginning were beneficial to the team.
“With eight freshmen and one transfer we’re basically starting fresh again,” Curry said. “Tough competition in the beginning like Marquette really helped us get our footing. We’ve grown as a team chemistry-wise.”
Curry also sees ways the team can improve.
“Our leadership and communication skills need to improve,” Curry said. “We’ve been timid when it comes to taking control on the field.”
Despite being such a young team, the Bonnies have some big goals and even bigger shoes to fill. The team has made the Atlantic 10 tournament in each of the last four years and finished no lower than 5 in the conference. Khettry believes the team can reach that level again this year.
“Making the conference semis is a realistic goal,” Khettry said. “After that, it comes down to luck.”
He hopes the experience gained playing such a difficult non-conference schedule will help the Bonnies to achieve that goal.
“Conference games are tough” Khettry said, “If you don’t come out and compete, you get punished.”
The Bonnies were picked to finish seventh in the preseason A-10 coaches poll.
They’re one of four teams to have made the conference tournament for four consecutive seasons.
nigreltn11@bonaventure.edu
nigreltn11@bonaventure.edu
