BY DAN GEYER, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team picked up its first conference win of the season, defeating the Richmond Spiders, 1-0 ,Sunday at the Marra Athletics Complex, picking up its first conference win of the season.
The win was the Bonnies first since a 3-1 win over Eastern Michigan on Aug. 28, ending an 0-7-4 streak between victories.
For most of the first half, it was a midfield battle between the Bonnies (3-7-6, 1-7-1 A-10) and the Spiders (3-9-3, 2-4-2 A-10) as both teams controlled the ball evenly.
In the 22nd minute, the officials called Richmond for a foul inside the 18-yard- box, awarding the Bonnies a penalty kick. Graduate forward Christina Torres snuck the kick past Spiders junior goalkeeper Taylor Montague to give the Bonnies a, 1-0 lead.
Despite 17 second half shots by the Spiders, they were unable to get one past Bonnies sophomore goalkeeper Chaira Gottinger who held strong, collecting 10 of her career high 14 saves in the half.
“I think one of things about senior day [is] there’s a lot of emotions — it tends to be a tricky game,” said head coach Steve Brdarski. “We talked about playing for the seniors. We played for them.”
“You want to do the best thing for them. I thought the first ten minutes were scrappy, we were led by the play of our seniors. Kenzie and Maya played well and handled the one on matchups, Christina [Torres] helped us turn a lightswitch.”
“We started exposing them, they played for 90 minutes, super proud of them. When you have leadership and energy it’s a dangerous combination, we scored a goal and played well.”
Gottinger ended the game with a new career high with 14 saves and continues to climb the Bonnies’ record books, passing 2013 graduate Megan Junker with her 10th career shutout, while passing Brooke Lang and Karen Cunningham for the most saves in a season with 148.
“We talk about how the game is made of plays, whether it’s the first, 10th, 40teh etc.” Brdarski added. “Chiarra made some really good saves. She had two point blank saves, my favorite save was in the last 40 seconds… she played super tough, that’s who she is. She can’t do it without the players around her. Did we have breakdowns yes, but keeping our composure is key.”
The Bonnies were outshot 26-10, including 14-4 on goal. Lydia Choban, Rachel Hutchinson, Mckenna Robinson and Rachel Hutchinson led the team with two shots each.
Prior to the game, the Bonnies honored their nine seniors: Payton Powers, Kenzie Tarmino, Maya Palmer, Christina Torres, Rachel Hutchison, Haylee Smith, Christine Napoli, Amber Achladis and Claire Davis.
The Bonnies began the game by passing the ball to Haylee Smith, who passed the ball back to a teammate who kicked it out of bounds. The move allowed Smith to play in her final home game.
The Bonnies will conclude their season Thursday at Duquesne at 7pm. For Brdarski, he still views this final game as a senior game.
“For me it is still a senior day. Last game with this group, Duquesne is a rival and we’ve had some intense games with them. We want to keep proving who we are. We are a strong group and haven’t quit all year long.”
“This last game you want to keep playing tough and with energy. We won so many challenges in the Richmond game and want to keep winning challenges, scoring and end this season strong.”
geyerd18@bonaventure.edu
