By Harrison Leone
Sports Assignment Editor
With basketball being the main attraction in the Bonaventure sports world, it may be easy to think of the fall as a time to enjoy the two weeks of tolerable weather, wait for the men’s schedule to come out or, God forbid, open a textbook.
Additionally, the fall sports teams have an unfortunate tendency to toil in futility, leading to the unfortunate consequence of student athletes competing in obscurity while their fan base adjusts to the new school year.
This season, however, the men’s soccer team, and men’s and women’s cross country teams have left the gate with a bang, and their efforts are certainly worthy of our attention.
The pitch has not been particularly kind to the Bonnies of late. The men closed the 2011 season on a four-game slide while posting winless records in both conference play and on their home turf, compiling a 4-12-3 overall record. 2012 was hardly any kinder, with the team going 5-14 while managing to post a 3-6 record against Atlantic 10 opponents.
The 2013 campaign, however, has taken on a decidedly different flavor for Coach Mel Mahler’s squad. The men have started this season with gusto, treating the St. Bonaventure faithful to four straight wins. The team swept the Duquesne Invitational last weekend, besting both Incarnate Word and Howard University. Also falling in the wake of the men’s torrid, which has seen them post a plus-eight-goal differential, have been Western New York rivals Buffalo and Niagara.
The true test of this team’s mettle will begin Oct. 11 at St. Joe’s for the start of conference play. Until then, we can take pride in knowing the men are one win shy of matching their total for all of last season.
From the soccer field to the cross country course, early success is still the M.O. for our Bonnies. The women made history on Aug. 30, capturing SBU’s first Little Three Invitational title. The meet, which featured St. Bonaventure, Canisius and Niagara, has been run since 1983. The Bonnies were lying low, biding their time until the race’s 30th edition to strike, and strike they did, coming in 12 points ahead of second-place Canisius. The women were paced by senior Kady Weisner, who came in second, and sophomore Kerry Caher, who crossed the finish line third.
It may have been three decades in the making, but the women’s Little Three victory is sweet nonetheless.
At their version of the Little Three, the men’s cross country team did not fare quite as well as the women, coming in third place and taking a step back from last year’s second-place finish. This has unfortunately been a familiar tune for the men of St. Bonaventure’s cross country team, with the last invitational victory of any kind coming in 2003.
But that decade-long streak was snapped this past weekend, as the men took home the gold in the Seton Hill Griffin Classic. Junior Harley Thompson finished with the team’s best time, coming in fourth overall for the race. Right behind the Pennsylvania native Thompson was fellow junior Nick Masiello in fifth; in total, five SBU runners would finish within the top eight times.
Splitting their time between the NFL, fantasy football and the MLB pennant race, sports fans have a lot on their plate this fall, just as they do every year. This season, it may please St. Bonaventure faithfuls to turn their attention to their own backyard and cheer on the surprising and pleasing developments among some of the school’s less-renowned programs.
Harrison Leone is the Sports Assignment Editor of the Bona Venture. His email is leonehj11@bonaventure.edu.
