BY WILL POLADIAN, SPORTS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
The St. Bonaventure men’s soccer team won 2-1 in a must-win game on the road against Dayton on Saturday to improve their record to 4-9-1 in the fight to make the conference tournament.
The first half started slow for both teams. The Bonnies struck first late into the first half. In the 43rd minute freshman forward Umechi Akuazaoku scored the first goal for either side as the Bonnies led into the half. In the 57th minute freshman forward Matthew Wrobel buried a shot into the top right corner to give the Bonnies a 2-0 lead. The Flyers tried to fight their way back into it. In the 81st minute Flyers forward Eren Elbustu scored off a penalty kick to cut the deficit to one. That would be the final in a game the Bonnies needed to have as they are barely holding on to the last spot for the conference tournament.
Wrobel felt that the team performed well in Saturday’s victory.
“The overall team performance has been very good especially after our bounce back from Duquesne and hard-fought win against Dayton last Saturday,” said Wrobel. “I feel like we have had two very solid weeks of training and back-to-back good performances which is very good.”
The team needs to keep their momentum and their team spirit is what Wrobel believes the team needs to continue doing.
“Something that needs to be improved going into our last game of the year is just keeping the team spirit and taking the momentum from the Dayton game into our next game,” said Wrobel.
With the most important game for the team this season coming up, Wrobel believes the team is focused on winning and putting everything into this game.
“In this final game we as a team are looking for nothing but the result,” said Wrobel. “This is a must win game and everybody knows this, so all energy and effort is going into winning this game and making the A10 tournament.”
With senior day on Saturday, Wrobel believes that this day is an important and special day.
“Senior day is a very special day for not only the graduates but everybody including teammates and staff,” said Wrobel. “This day is used to recognize all the players that have put blood sweat and tears into this program and spent countless hours making this a better place. The seniors are a huge part of our team not only on but also off the pitch, so it is very important to put your all into the last games of the season and win for them.”
poladiwj20@bonaventure.edu
