By Cameron Hurst
Contributing Writer
The St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team’s comeback fell short to the Canisius Golden Griffins, 2-1 in their second home game of the season.
Steve Brdarski, head coach of the St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team, understands his team’s youth and development.
“We had chances to score and we didn’t,” said Brdarski. “We created a lot of opportunities by trying to play and trying to move the ball, but it’s not a question of style, it’s a question of fight.”
The Bonnies did fight throut the first half of play with Brdarski calling the team’s start the“best 45 minutes of the season.” The Bonnies, now 0-2-1, accumulated six shots on goal on Golden Griffins goaltender Alan Rossi, but lost some speed toward the end of the half as Canisius gained a late momentum that would continue past halftime.
“You have to take those opportunities against a team that’s playing a certain way,” said Brdarski. “[Golden Griffins] came in here with a game plan. They were going to play the ball long, play down the middle, and they were going to scrap for the ball. They were looking for their set pieces.”
Following a foul call on the Bonnies senior defender Jennifer Morris, Golden Griffins freshman forward Gretta Dry would find the back of the net off a corner kick to give the Golden Griffins a 1-0 lead in the 55th of the second half. 15 minutes later, Canisius would capitalize once again on their second half of play, as sophomore back Emma Czechowski was able to get one past the Bonnies to take a 2-0 lead.
Brdarski was disappointed that the Bonnies were unable to stop the Golden Griffins offense in the second half.
“If you don’t get to the ball first, bad things are going to happen,” said Brdarski. “Both times we let the ball in our box and we let it hit the ground. That’s a problem. Also, both times we lost a player. [Dry and Czechowski] didn’t have to work hard to score those goals. If people are going to score on us, we want them to score a great goals and make them have to work for it.”
St. Bonaventure’s only goal would come with just under 9 minutes left in the game as sophomore midfielder Gretta LaCouture deflected a pass off a Golden Griffs defender that would get by Rossi.
“A game that we could’ve been in control in, a game that that we were dictating a lot of different things, turns when teams score goals,” said Brdarski That’s just it.”
Despite the team’s struggles to execute when it counted, Brdarski was impressed by freshman goaltender Lauren Malcom, who earned her way into a starting role by the end of the Bonnies’ pre-season.
“She’s been playing fearless. It’s one of those things that it’s fair and not fair. It’s not fair in that we should be treating her like a freshman. But, that stage ended for her when preseason ended,” said Brdarski. “We don’t look at her like a freshman goalkeeper anymore, we look at her as our goal keeper right now. She makes some big saves and she’s done some great things and she’s continuing to learn.”
He was impressed by the freshman from Moon Township, Pennsylvania, not only because of her performance on the field, but also because of her work ethic.
“I think [Malcom] works just as hard in practice as she does in games,” he said. “I think she’s only going to get better because of that.”
Additionally, Brdarski was also impressed by newly named captain, Danielle Vis, a junior forward, who served as the team’s catalyst and made plays as they attempted to battle back from the late deficit, even despite a recent injury that kept her sidelined for a week.
“She was definitely flying,” said Brdarski. “I can’t believe she hasn’t lost any fitness. I think she’s fitter after taking a week off than she actually was after [the recent matchup against] Binghamton.”
Even coming off an injury, Vis continued to do her best to make plays for the Bonnies.
“It’s just a matter of sometimes getting her to have a little more control of the ball,” said Brdarski. “She’s a player we’re going to look to. She’s going to have to do a lot of different things, but she was running, she was moving, she was working. I love what [she] does.”
The Bonnies women’s soccer team looks forward now as they host Little Three rival, the Niagara Purple Eagles, a team who, according to Brdarski, is similar to the Golden Griffins through their scrappy approach, on Sunday afternoon at the Marra Athletic Complex.
“[Niagara] has had some decent results,” said Brdarski who noted that their next opponent tied Michigan State in a recent matchup. “It’s a game that’s going to come down to a few things. We’re going to play a certain way, they’re going to play a certain way. It being a day game could be a little bit different for us. But, hopefully the weather will hold off and make it into a nice cool day for us.”
The St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team will continue to look to find their first victory of the season as they kickoff on Sunday against Niagara at 1 p.m. at the Marra Athletic Complex.
