By Heather Monahan
Assistant Features Editor
The women’s soccer team recorded its first win of the season against Binghamton (6-2-0) when freshman forward Abby Maiello scored the lone goal of the game in the 51st minute last Friday.
This weekend, the Bonnies have two games against Little Three opponents. Tonight, the Bonnies host Niagara (4-3-0) at 5 p.m. before traveling to Canisius (2-6-0) on Sunday for a 1:00 p.m. game. Both are expected to be difficult.
“It’s always a hard game with them,” said assistant coach Morey Kephart. “They’re our big rivals in the area.”
Freshman forward Lauren Hill agreed that while the games will be challenging, the team is ready.
“They’ll be tough opponents, but I think we’re confident we can take them and win,” Hill said.
With Canisius and Niagara as big competitors recruiting, this weekend’s games have more than just victories on the line.
“It always means a lot more than any other out of conference games,” said Kephart. “It’s definitely for the bragging rights around Buffalo.”
To get ready for the games, the coaches spent a lot of time watching footage from their game against Binghamton.
“We’ve been breaking down film a lot this week and showing them how effective it was and how everybody bought into the system,” Kephart said. “I think that was one of the biggest things that helped us get that win. Everybody was on the same page.”
Kephart said the team hopes their style of play will earn them two more wins this weekend.
“We need to play our style which is possessing the ball, being patient and then attacking when we have the opportunity,” Kephart said. “We want our girls to work hard and apply high pressure on defense.”
Hill said with the two games coming up, she hopes the team will get two more wins on their record. But she also set a personal goal for herself.
“I’m just going to play my best and hope to get a goal,” Hill said.
Kephart has confidence in the team as the games for this weekend approach.
“If we can do exactly what we did against Binghamton, we’ll be successful and build on it,” Kephart said. “We always want to build on our performances.”
Building on their performance from Binghamton is exactly what the team plans to do in their games this weekend. Kephart said it was exciting to see the style of play come together during last week’s game.
“A lot of the pieces finally connected for us,” said Kephart. “Everybody played a good game, and it was overall a great team effort. That’s ultimately what won the game.”
Kephart said the win proved the team’s system works.
“We can play our style, which is a very technical style, against a team who’s big and athletic and fast, and we can have a positive result,” said Kephart.
Even though this is their first win, Kephart said there was never any doubt in their ability to run their system.
“It reinforced what we’re doing is the right thing,” Kephart said. “Everything just started to click.”
Hill agreed the team came together during the Binghamton game to use their technical style as an advantage.
“We started connecting our passes between the midfielders and forwards, and we started to click as a team,” Hill said. “We’re able to work together and get passes up to the forwards, and the forwards are able to work together in the top third.”
Even though Maiello’s goal ultimately led the team to victory, Kephart said the whole game was a team effort.
“Everybody had their part to play, and they played it very, very well,” Kephart said.
