By Heather Monahan
Features Editor
The St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team is looking to go where no Bonaventure soccer team has gone before. The team advances to the Atlantic 10 postseason tournament for the sixth year in a row, something only the Bonnies and the Dayton Flyers have done.
The women were picked to finish 13th in the A-10 preseason poll. They finished their conference schedule in fourth place with a 4-4 record.
“We weren’t given a lot of respect before the season started, and in all fairness, it didn’t really matter to us,” said Head Coach Steve Brdarski. “We weren’t trying to be a top eight team in August. We were trying to be a top eight team in November.”
Senior midfielder/defender Courtney Hoenicke said it’s been surreal.
“It gives me chills,” she said. “Bonaventure never gets any respect but this season it was a whole new level.”
Though their intentions were not to simply prove people wrong, it was an added bonus on their journey to the tournament.
“All along, our goal has been that we want to win the A-10,” Brdarski said. “We want to do something, hopefully, that our program has never done. We’ve proved some people wrong and everything, but that’s not enough. We’re not going to settle for that. We’re going to go farther, we’re going to do more and we’re going to want more.”
In his first season with the Bonnies, Brdarski said he is happy to carry on the tradition of making a postseason appearance.
“If you were to go back and ask all of the players who have played before, there’s a desire for the program,” he said. “We want more. We don’t want to just be here. We want to win here, and we want to get that trophy for everyone who’s worked so hard for our program.”
Brdarski said the team knows how difficult the tournament is going to be based on what happened throughout the regular season.
“There’s not a huge difference between the number one and number eight teams,” he said. “It was pretty crazy, to the point where you didn’t know who was going to (make it to the tournament) at the last minute. Right now, anybody can beat anybody.”
The amount of games in such a short time span is another difficult aspect of the tournament the Bonnies are ready to face, Brdarski said.
“You play three games in four days, if you’re lucky enough to do that, and that’s pretty tough to do,” Brdarski said. “So how you manage players, bodies, moments throughout this tournament, is going to become a pretty important factor in the end. I think it’s really wide open for anyone to have.”
Though the women have a tough road ahead of them, Brdarski said he’s confident in the team’s abilities.
“I think every one of our girls has that chip on their shoulder,” he said. “They understand that in their DNA, what makes them who they are, is that they are blue- collared, hardworking players who will go out every day, day in and day out, and prove themselves. Come tournament time, it’s not necessarily who plays the best soccer. If you don’t have a little bit of the work ethic, you’re not going to go far.”
Another strength the Bonnies have, according to Brdarski, is their unique style of play.
“We play like St. Bonaventure,” he said. “I think we offer some challenges to some of the other teams in the way that we play because it’s not very common. But we need to make sure we have the luck part to it and that work ethic side to it that’s intermingled with that.”
Hoenicke, one of three captains, said the team isn’t planning on stopping any time soon.
“We can’t wait to keep proving (people) wrong.”
