BY WILL POLADIAN, SPORTS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
St. Bonaventure fell short in its comeback against George Washington on Sunday, losing 13-10.
The Bonnies (1-9, 0-4 A-10) started out slow as they trailed 9-2 at halftime. Freshman attacker Fiona McGovern scored both goals.
“If we take any, any possessions off, if we give them extra possessions, these teams in our league can make you pay for it,” said head coach Jason Levesque.
In the third period, the Bonnies scored five goals to George Washington’s (4-8, 2-2 A-10) two goals to fight their way back.
“I was really proud of the girls,” said Levesque. “We dug ourselves a hole again, unfortunately, against GW, being down 9-2 at half. They just kind of stayed the course and kept plugging and kept pushing. We made some adjustments at halftime and I’m just so impressed with them.”
The Bonnies tallied three more goals in the fourth, but it was not enough to complete the comeback as the Colonials scored two goals to hang on for the win.
McGovern brought it to a one score game with under seven minutes left. Just under a minute later Tori Hampton buried one in the back of the net for the Colonials and they shut out the Bonnies the rest of the way.
“I’ve been kind of trying to impress or impose upon them of what we need to do to get better as a program and you know, they’ve just done an awesome job with it,” said Levesque. “Just to see them continue fighting and battling was awesome. I was super proud of the effort.”
McGovern had four second half goals, while junior midfielder Nora Anderson had two goals and sophomore attacker Abby Hiltz and senior attacker/midfielder Madison Mundenar each had a goal a piece in the attempted comeback.
McGovern ended the game with six goals, which places her fourth all time in Bonnies’ history for single game scoring. She did it on eight shots while scooping up two ground balls on the day.
“It’s great to see her starting to kind of get rewarded,” said Levesque. “Very, very, very few freshmen, regardless of what sport, can really step into the lineup and make that immediate impact.”
Hiltz and Mundenar each recorded an assist. Junior midfielder Terri Manzelli had a team high three forced turnovers while scooping up three groundballs.
Leading the Colonials was senior midfielder Tori Hampton with three goals and three assists and sophomore attacker Katelyn Lederman with three goals.
“They made us pay,” said Levesque. “They capitalized on their extra looks. We need to do more of the same when we get those extra looks and those extra opportunities in the future.”
In the net, junior goalkeeper Ashley Herrick had seven saves on the day for St. Bonaventure while senior goalkeeper Megan Patrick had eight saves for the Colonials.
The Bonnies outshot George Washington 32-25 for the game but were edged out by the Colonials in ground balls 15-14 and turnovers 9-8.
“We just needed a break to fall our way one or two more times,” said Levesque. “That or not put ourselves in a seven goal deficit.”
Next up, the Colonials will travel to Amherst, Massachusetts to take on UMass on Friday. For the Bonnies, they come home to take on La Salle on Friday at 1 p.m.
poladiwj20@bonaventure.edu
