Sherwood era officially underway at St. Bonaventure
By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — It is the dawn of a new era for the St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team.
After finishing last season with a 2-13-3 record, the Bonnies made some big changes in pursuit of success in the 2025 campaign. Melissa Sherwood — who most recently held the head coaching position at Mount St. Mary’s — was named the 13th head coach in program history over the offseason and in the wake of her arrival, nearly 20 new faces transferred into the team.
With such an overhaul, Bona is working with a fresh slate this season, one that officially got underway with a 1-1 draw to Charleston Southern on Aug. 17 at home.
The Bonnies’ first game in the Sherwood era got off to a slower start as they had their difficulties maintaining possession for extended periods of time through the first 45 minutes. The Buccaneers had similar problems, but were the more in-control side of the opening half.
And as build-up play was harder to come by, ventures into the attacking third were scarce in the first half for Bona, only testing the Charleston Southern goalkeeper once. Meanwhile, the visitors put five shots on the Bona goal in the opening half, one of which lobbed goalkeeper Juliana Castellano, found the underside of the crossbar and rippled the net.
But as much as the first half went in favor of the Buccaneers, their goal, scored by Claire Deangelis, was the lone difference between the sides at the break.
St. Bonaventure’s Addison Brown (24) races after a ball ahead of Charleston Southern’s Jenéa Knight (18). (St. Bonaventure Athletics)
The slower start was understandable for Sherwood, who noted that the amount of change within the program has led to her and her staff needing to start the rebuild from the ground up.
“It’s a slow process because we’re completely starting from scratch, so we have to put the foundations in,” Sherwood said. “We have to be patient, because on an individual level, there’s many of them that need to build their fitness because of being a late recruit or their situations in the spring and with just the turnover and the evolution of the roster.”
As for her side’s difficulties in the opening half, Sherwood chalked it up to opening-day nerves. And while she may understand those emotions, she far from considers them an excuse.
“I think there’s still a little bit of early-day jitters,” Sherwood said. “I think that the players need to take responsibility and accountability for that, individually. I think they need to be a little bit more composed.”
Luckily for her, the Bonnies found a new gear in the second half. They were more physical, got under the skin of the Buccaneers and found themselves with significantly more chances throughout the rest of the game.
“We have a lot of transfers, some are from D1, but some also are from NAIA and Division Two, so dealing with that physicality that Division One brings (is a challenge),” Sherwood said. “The second half, we were more physical and we have to keep building on that, because there’s no more Mrs. Nice Guy. You got to be tough. You got to be aggressive. … So yes, the physicality did improve through the game, but it’s got to improve game on game on game on game, because it doesn’t take any talent. It just takes heart.”
But it will take more than heart alone to put tallies in the win column. Sherwood, who played in England for a number of teams, and professionally for the Central Coast Mariners (Australia) and North Jersey Valkyries (United States), knows this. And in order to succeed in her program, one will need not only that, but strength, humility, flexibility and a willingness to learn.
“I was a tenacious player, so no princesses are going to play for me, they need to be tough, they need to get stuck in. That’s a minimum, because it doesn’t require any talent,” Sherwood said. “The players need to be humble and be able to listen and to take direction. … And then our teams always need to be able to adapt. … And I thought, considering it’s the first test, they adjusted quite well.”
St. Bonaventure’s Ekemini Udofa (29) looks to avoid an oncoming tackle from Charleston Southern’s Carson Wells (4). (St. Bonaventure Athletics)
In fact, it only took two minutes of game time after the break for Bona to draw level behind a penalty kick which was won by Paula Sanabria Diaz and converted by Giovanna Coghetto.
The Bonnies then proceeded to keep their foot on the pedal, finding themselves with the better opportunities as the game progressed. They went from having just one shot on target in the first half to five in the second.
The Buccaneers still had their chances and put five more shots on frame before all was said and done. But with neither side able to find a breakthrough, they were resigned to split the result on the day.
“Every game is a test, and this is test one,” Sherwood said of the result. “It’s a brand new team … the players, at the minute, they don’t have those little relationships from having played together for a season or two or three. So, we’re really trying to build those things, which you can see in today’s game. We just have to take it step-by-step, it’s a gradual build-up. … The game was in the balance, it was there to be won, unfortunately, we didn’t take that chance. There were a couple of chances toward the end. So, there’s things to build on for sure.”
With Sherwood’s set of philosophies and keys to success, the foundation for Bona’s rebuild is there. Now, in terms of overall aspirations she has for the team, she claims that she wants to stay realistic, aiming for, simply, a more successful season than last and to peak at the right time.
“Of course, our objective is to try to do better than last season,” Sherwood said. “Also, in terms of our philosophy, we have to be realistic. We’re not playing a non-conference schedule that’s going to get us an at-large bid. … (we’re using the non-conference schedule) as an extension of preseason to help the players face different experiences, different scenarios, different levels of teams, so that we can build and also experience something equivalent to an A10 opponent when we get further down the road. … We don’t need to peak today, we need to peak when we get to the end of September.”
The St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team will now embark on a five-game road trip before returning home. The first game of the long away stretch will be at Binghamton on Aug. 21 at 6 p.m.
