Photo: St. Bonaventure Athletics
BY WILL POLADIAN, MANAGING EDITOR
After 12 seasons under Steve Brdarski, a new head coach is on the scene for the St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team.
In January, Bonaventure named Donny George its 11th head coach in program history. In two seasons on Niagara University’s coaching staff, George helped lead the Purple Eagles to a 24-12-2 record.
With its new coach, many of the team’s players said they feel the need to re-earn their spots on the team.
“This year the team’s energy is higher than before because every single player has to prove herself again and earn her spot,” said junior goalkeeper Chiara Gottinger. “You can definitely feel that during practice since the intensity is much higher.”
With that new energy, the team sees how hard George is working to change the program.
“We use more resources, we work more professionally, and he’s trying to promote our team more on campus,” said Gottinger. “He’s very passionate about our team. We are his number one priority, and it shows. He cares a lot about our program. He doesn’t just want to turn around the program for him. Coach Donny wants to do it for us. He believes in us, and he wants to help us to get what we deserve.”
George believes this job makes a huge impact on people through the sport.
“I strongly believe I have the best job in the world,” said George. “I get to impact and connect and build relationships with an amazing group of human beings, and we get to connect via soccer.”
The team culture is one that George feels is different from previous teams he has coached.
“One thing that this team has is it just has this feel of a family environment,” said George. “The team loves each other and they adore each other. I’m very lucky that I get to be a part of that.”
Gottinger reiterated the importance and value of family to the team.
“We’ve always been a tight-knit team,” said Gottinger. “We spend so much time with each other so that there is basically no other way. Our relationships with each other are an important part of our foundation and Coach Donny’s idea.”
Off to a 1-2-4 start this season, George said he looks to start anew with Atlantic 10 Conference, which started Thursday.
“We will take it truly one game at a time,” said George. “We’ll look at each game, and we’ll look at each team, and we’ll look at each performance, and we’ll adjust and we’ll grow. I think that’s the best way to look at our conference season this year.”
Bonaventure continues conference play on the road as it travels to North Carolina to play against Davidson on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“Everybody is putting in so much work, and every day you can see small improvements,” said Gottinger. “You can’t turn around a program within a day. It takes time, and we’re in the middle of that process.”
poladiwj20@bonaventure.edu
