By Mikael DeSanto
Sports Assignment Editor
The St. Bonaventure Men’s soccer team will begin their season on August 26 when they take on the Hartwick College Hawks, a team they lost to 1-0 last August, and try to start off their season on a positive note, following struggles last season. The Bonnies finished with a 2-16-1 (1-7 in conference play) record last year, and ended the season on a three game losing streak.
Kwame Oduro, the team’s head coach, said the issues came from the process of growth and development the program experienced.
“We struggled because we lacked depth and we were still trying to identify our soccer DNA; who we are as team,” Oduro said. “We had a very young and inexperienced team with 6 freshmen starting games in most conference games.”
However, Oduro did have a solution to those issues for this season.
“By bringing in better players that will add depth and be difference makers for us in games,” Oduro said.
One factor that contributed to issues for the Bonnies last season was lack of goal scoring, as they only managed to score eight goals in 19 games, and were shut out in 13 of those games. Leading scorer Kosi Nwafornso does return to the team this season for his sophomore season. Nwafornso scored four goals and tallied eight points on his way to an Atlantic 10 All-Rookie selection.
“Kosi will be huge for us this season once he is fit. He did well in conference last year, so he will not be a surprise for our opponents,” Oduro said. “We hope our team will continue to put him in good positions to be successful. If he does well, it will open up other opportunities for our other attacking players.”
Nwafornso said his level of success needs to be on a team level, not just a personal one.
“I think the most important thing for me is staying humble and hoping that I can help my team in any way I can,” Nwafornso said. “I just want to be the best I can to help my team whether on or off the pitch and as a team, just like every other team. Our goal is to win games and hope we can do big things for ourselves, our coaches and the school.”
Oduro named the captains for the season, keeping the captaincy with players familiar to the role.
“We are fortunate all our three captains will return from last season,” Oduro said. “Bonaventure Akinlosotu, Eddie Keen, (and) Kieran Toland all have different traits of leadership that combine to give our team a strong leadership.”
Keen said he takes the role seriously, but that he doesn’t do it alone and each leader has a part to play for the team as a whole.
“We’ve got three great captains in myself, Kieran Toland, Bonaventure Akinlosotu, and then we’ve got two other seniors that play very prominent roles in the team,” Keen said. “The team is a great bunch of guys and a lot of time they don’t need that leadership, but moving people in the right way, we all have different areas which we’re very very good at, for example Bonaventure is a very good man-to-man person and player-manager. It all comes out in different areas and different times in the season, but we’re confident with our lads that there isn’t going to be any trouble and we’re all going to be pushing together on the same page.”
Noel Orozco, one of Keen’s fellow seniors, could play a big role on this years’ team, as he holds more experience than many of teammates. He said that he has his own way of leading which helps to contribute to the overall success of the team.
“Some seniors are there for moral support and encouragement for the younger players. I show a bit more of tough love,” Orozco said. “I try to push the younger players a bit more and hold them accountable because at this level everybody has to perform from top to bottom. I think having a mix of everything is good. It’s always good to have that balance.”
The Bonnies also face a new wrinkle this season as they will look to replace Bobby Diaz, who started 30 games over four seasons at goalkeeper. The primary candidate would be Luke Iacobellis, a sophomore who backed up Diaz last season, but depth at the position includes redshirt-freshman Alex Olday, and true-freshmen Kyle Cunningham and Joseph Sanchez-Castro.
Oduro said all the goalkeepers have shown promise so far and should have success as they develop in the program.
“Iacobellis had a good spring and we feel he is ready to be an elite keeper,” Oduro said. “We have Olday, who redshirted due to injuries, but he has looked solid this preseason. Our two incoming GK’s have done well and we will continue to develop them as well. We are pretty comfortable with the keepers that we have.”
Oduro listed some goals that he and the team have for the upcoming season, focusing on the ultimate goals for any season.
“Our goal is always to compete and do it at high level. We are still in the process of rebuilding, creating a foundation and a discipline culture,” Oduro said. “Our goal each year is to make our conference playoffs. We do so by out-working our opponents and keeping each game close.”
Finally, when asked to make his prediction for the team, Oduro said the current position of the squad prevents him from accurately doing so.
“It is hard to make predictions on our team because we are still in the rebuilding process,” Oduro said. “Our goal is to compete in each game and hope our special players can give us that magical moment when it counts the most.”
The game against Hartwick will be at Hartwick at 6 p.m.
