By Dominic LoVallo
Staff Writer
This past Saturday, the St. Bonaventure men’s soccer team lost to the Saint Louis University (SLU) Billikens by a score of 1-0. This was the Bonnies’ final home game of the season. The team celebrated the play of six seniors in front of the home crowd.
Freshman Anthony Sileo said he felt the team played a great game, and one bad bounce led to the Billikens’ only goal.
“I don’t think anything went wrong against Saint Louis,” Sileo said. “Obviously, we didn’t come out with a win, just one sloppy goal, but the rest of the game we played pretty well. We just couldn’t get our offense going, so I guess we could attribute the loss to that.”
The offense attempted five shots during the game last Saturday, but the Bonnies were unable to land a single shot on goal.
The Bonnies have only one game remaining on the season. The team will travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this Saturday to face off against the Saint Joseph University (SJU) Hawks with a 6 p.m. kick off.
Freshman Anthony Gaglianese said he doesn’t believe the fact that the Bonnies won’t be in the playoffs is any reason for the team to not play its best.
“I expect everyone to just play as hard as they can, and no matter what the outcome, be proud of their performance,” Gaglianese said. “Just because we are out of the playoffs doesn’t mean that we can’t still carry on to next season. So it would be great to finish off the season with a win.”
With the Bonnies’ season wrapping up tomorrow, sophomore midfielder Kieran Toland had many positive takeaways from the Bonnies 2015 campaign.
“Coach (Kwame) Oduro has done a great job of what he set out to do,” Toland said. “He wanted to change the face of the sport at St. Bonaventure and change the culture, and I feel that he has. We have gained a lot more respect as a team around campus from students and teachers alike. As for soccer, the record we have does not reflect how we played throughout the season. A lack of goals stopped us from picking up results, but we can win these games, as we create many chances throughout the games. I have every confidence in coach Oduro that he will change this program further, and I’m glad that I get to be alongside him as captain.”
The Bonnies’ lack of a postseason has made some players start to think about what could happen next season. Sileo, although still expecting his teammates to play its hardest this Saturday, said he still can’t deny his excitement for next year.
“I expect us to come out firing, because [it’s the] last game of the season, and even though there is nothing to play for, we still have our pride on the line,” Sileo said. “But after realizing we weren’t going to make the playoffs, I started thinking about next season, and I’m actually really excited to see who coach Oduro is going to bring in because he is doing so well this year with the freshmen.”
The Bonnies end their season this Saturday against the SJU Hawks at 6p.m.
