photo courtesy of gobonnies.sbu.edu

By Hayden Robinson

On Sunday, the St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team defeated Merrimack at home, 2-1.

The Bonnies improved their season record to 4-4 and their home record to 3-0 with the win.

Kacie Filian led the way for the Bonnies with two goals.

It was a defensive battle throughout the first half. Both teams went back and forth down the field, each trying to find the weak point of the other. 

St. Bonaventure goalkeeper Lauren Malcolm led the game with nine saves, seven of them coming in the first half.

The second-half scoring started in the 69^th minute of the game. 

After the Bonnies earned a corner kick, senior forward Bella May gave Filian, a sophomore mid, a perfect pass for her to find the back of the net. 

From there, all it took was seven minutes for the Bonnies to march back and score again, when Filian was on the receiving end of freshman defender Kenzie Tarmino’s assist. 

Merrimack would soon follow with a goal of their own in the 80^th minute by Katelyn Richardson. 

Merrimack continued to try and fight their way back into the game, but the Bonnies defense held onto the lead till the final buzzer.

Head coach Steve Brdarski spoke after the game about his team’s win. 

“At the end of the day, we were able to come back and come after them and do the things we needed to do,” Brdarski said. “We’re 3-0 this year at home. I don’t know if we’ve ever done that in my seven years here, so I think it’s important to say that.”  

Brdarski said that at halftime, talking about some of the things that they did and didn’t accomplish in the first half fueled the win.

“We didn’t come out the first 45 minutes with the effort we’ve played in the last two or three games,” Brdarski said. “We challenged them to give more work, more effort, be better on the ball and then to be a little bit gritty. I think we got that grit.”

Filian’s two goals in the game were also her first of the season. 

When asked what was working for her during the game, she said, “We had some in the first half that we didn’t finish so I knew we had to get on the end of them.

“Our defense held us together and it was nice to finally be able repay for them for all the hard work they have been doing in the backline.”

The Bonnies will look to improve to above .500 on Sept. 22 when they travel to Fordham to take on the Rams.