photo courtesy of gobonnies.sbu.edu

By Akim Hudson

Coming into Tuesday night’s matchup, the St. Bonaventure men’s soccer team carried a nine–year losing streak against the Canisius Golden Griffins. 

The Bonnies overcame that, however, as they defeated Canisius 3-0 at the Marra Athletics Complex. 

Missed opportunities and great defense were the motifs of the game early in the match.  

Both teams were fortunate enough to be presented scoring chances on numerous occasions, but both were plagued by overshooting and miscommunication. 

But a shift in momentum emerged as a red card was drawn on St. Bonaventure. 

Bonnies defender Jon Michael-Perkins was ejected from the match, and much of the crowd was appalled by the decision the official.  

Shortly after, St. Bonaventure’s Isaac Bomah broke the ice and scored the first goal of the match off of an assist from Jacob Dyck, at approximately the 1:02 mark.  

Being a man short, the Bonnies entered the second half of the match facing adversity, yet motivated. 

After a chippy start to the second half, a slight altercation on a corner kick resulted in Canisius’ Manuele Cavazzoli being handed a red card, and being ejected with approximately 26:47 left in the match. 

Then, with about 10:39 left in the match, Jacob Dyck found the back of the net off of an assist from Luca Nicastro to advance the Bonnies’ score to 2-0.  

Over the last 10:00, it seemed apparent that St. Bonaventure was on its way to finally breaking its losing streak against Canisius. 

If the second goal wasn’t enough assurance, within the last 3:00 of the match, Fredrik Hansen of St. Bonaventure put the nail in the coffin with a third, off an assist by Callum Beattie. 

The Bonnies had beat their rival for the first time in eight matches.     

Bona coach Kwame Oduro said it felt great to “finally beat” his former mentor, coach Dermot McGrane of Canisius.  

A somewhat unintentional birthday gift for Oduro added a subtle sweetness to this great victory.  

When asked what about the team’s expectations for this season, Oduro said that “every year we try to get into the playoffs.” 

The next Bona home game will be this Saturday versus VCU at the Marra Athletics Complex.