By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team was left still in search of its first Atlantic 10 win of the season after a first-half blitz from Rhode Island saw them suffer a 3-0 defeat.
Defensive resilience has been a pillar for the new-look Bonnies through the first half of their regular season. It has been something they have been able to hang their hat on at the end of the day, and ultimately it is something that coach Melissa Sherwood knew would be important come conference play.
But the Rams had no intention of slowly testing that Bona back line. Instead, they opted for a full-on assault on the host’s penalty area throughout the first half. Mounting attack after attack Rhody nearly jumped ahead before double-digit minutes had gone off the clock. But thanks to a heroic double-save from starting goalkeeper Adelaide Paredes, the Bonnies were able to hold on. But after 11 minutes the dam finally broke, as McKenna Sylvester put Rhode Island ahead.
“I think we were just a little bit lethargic,” Sherwood said. “There’s no excuses. (Rhode Island) traveled far, we had a far midweek game, but that’s the demand at this level. … We’ve got to get used to it and get used to it quick, and you got to be able to perform within those (circumstances). We were lethargic to start with, we were off the pace, we weren’t there, our press wasn’t on.”
But the goal did not quell Rhody’s hunger on offense and just 15 minutes later, Sylvester doubled her team’s, and her own, tally in the opening half.
What didn’t help Bona over the course of the game either was that it was unable to sustain much possession as many attempted passes wound up going awry. According to Sherwood, it was as though her side was playing with a sense of panic, when what they needed was to remain level-headed.
“They need to be more composed,” Sherwood said. “They have the ability to connect passes. It’s not rocket science what we’re trying to do. They’ve got the ability. They just have to be more composed. Also, it’s a new team. It can’t be telepathic when it’s nine, 10 weeks in and you’re playing with people that you never played with before. It can become telepathic when you’ve been playing with them for three seasons, four seasons … and you already know where your teammate is going to go. We don’t have that because we have so many new players. But at the same time, they need to be more composed to take care of the ball and help each other out with communicating. It sounds simple, but they have to be able to do that under pressure.”
St. Bonaventure’s Adelaide Paredes (1) gets set for a goal kick. Paredes recorded a crucial double-save for the Bonnies against the Rams to keep the scores level early. (St. Bonaventure Athletics)
Shortly after the intermission, Rhode Island’s Lauren MacDonald provided the dagger for the contest as she added a third goal to her team’s tally.
Despite the scoreline, there still were some positives Sherwood was able to take away from the match. The majority of which came over the course of the final 30 minutes.
“It was not good enough in the first half, being totally honest,” Sherwood said. “To give away three goals when, defensively, we’ve been more organized than that. The main thing that I have to take from the game is the fight that we showed in the second half, especially in the last 30 minutes. We were battling, we were fighting. … Sometimes the game is ugly and you’ve got to win headers and tackles and chase and that’s what we did in the last 30 minutes. But it’s got to be from the beginning, it’s got to be for the full 90 (minutes).”
Sherwood just about had a revolving door on her bench through the final half hour. Substitutions were plentiful, and in response, the Bonnies were able to get forward more in that time than they had the rest of the game. Now, it is just a matter of getting that effort from the start.
“We showed more fight in the second half, especially the last 30 minutes with the subs coming in,” Sherwood said. “They came in and they fought. … They made an impact. I put two freshmen at center-back to give them some experience, and in fairness, I thought they held their own. So those are the small positives that we have to take from the game. We make a lot of substitutions, sometimes it’s needed. The team needs to be consistent, and the subs need to be ready.”
Sherwood will hope for a good response from her team in its next match, a mid-week away trip at George Mason, set for Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.
