BY NATHAN SOLOMON, SPORTS EDITOR
Cristina Torres scored her seventh goal of the season on Sunday, powering the St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team to a 1-0 victory against Saint Joseph’s.
The Bonnies (4-6-3, 2-3-0) came out with plenty of energy against the Hawks (2-8-2, 2-3-0), firing eight shots in the first half. St. Bonaventure kept finding itself in position to score goals but kept coming up empty-handed. Finally, in the 30th minute, Torres sent a shot past Saint Joseph’s goalie Katie Cappelletti to put the Bonnies on the board.
“Chanel [Alexander] made a good long pass in between St. Joseph’s defense that set me up to go almost one vs. one versus the goalkeeper,” Torres said. “One of their players fouled me from behind which resulted in a penalty kick”.
Although this season is Torres’s first with the Bonnies, the team has certainly felt her impact. She’s the only player on the team with multiple goals on the season and has 14 points, 11 more than her closest teammate.
“I am happy I’ve been able to help the team finishing some opportunities, but I feel I have a long way to go and improve to consistently help beat other opponents and be higher in the A10 and NCAA rankings,” Torres said. “I’m just focused on training and aiming to score more goals and set up other forwards to do so too”.
St. Bonaventure’s strong defense allowed 11 shots and just six shots on goal. All six shots were stopped by freshman goalkeeper Chiara Gottinger.
“The performance of the defense have played a big part in both of our wins so far,” Torres said. “Chiara [Gottinger] is absolutely amazing in goal and an essential asset of the team”.
Gottinger’s shutout on Sunday was her fourth in 13 games this season and her 10th with one or fewer goals conceded.
Halfway through the Bonnies’ 10-game conference schedule, the team sits 2-3, trailing league leader VCU by three games. However, Torres believes that St. Bonaventure is trending in the right direction with the heart of the schedule ahead.
“The team is being able to connect better as we advance deeper into conference,” Torres said. “There have been a lot of good moments during last matches that proves that we can compete and beat any team in the conference if we are consistent. I think we are improving more and more every match”.
The Bonnies kickoff the second half of their A10 schedule on Sunday with a trip to North Carolina to take on the 4-7-2 Davidson Wildcats.
“I’m excited to see the team connect and maintain composure consistently in our Sunday match against Davidson,” Torres said. “I’m looking forward to the trip and prepared to come back with a win”.
Game time is set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
solomonj20@bonaventure.edu
