BY JEFREY CANOVA, SPORTS STAFFER
Photo: GoBonnies
St. Bonaventure University men’s soccer defeated Duquesne University 2-0 through an Umechi Akuazaoku brace, boosting the Bonnies’ record to 5-5-3 (1-3-1 in the Atlantic-10 conference) and ending their four-game winless streak.
In the first 20 minutes, the Bonnies controlled the game as midfielder Kenzo Brito’s excellent decision-making, pass accuracy and awareness allowed the team to maintain possession and create chances through forwards Andres Javitt’s and Rafael Pereira’s explosiveness on the flanks and Akuazaoku’s active hold up and link up play. After a corner kick in the 37th minute, midfielder and substitute Dean Mercer headed the ball back inside the box to a lurking Akuazaoku, who chipped the Dukes’ goalkeeper Zoltan Nagy to score the Bonnies’ first goal.
Duquesne, 5-5-2 overall (2-2-1 in conference), startled the Bonnies’ defense throughout certain moments of the first half. Still, Bonnies goalkeeper Nic Pucci prevented the Dukes from scoring in the first half, saving three shots. At halftime, the Bonnies finished with ten shots (five on goal), while the Dukes had nine shots (three on goal).
The Dukes began the second half aggressively as they created momentum through their team press and effective crossing for their main forward, Jayden Da, who entered the game with six goals and three assists. Fortunately for the Bonnies, Da failed to capitalize on a Duquesne counterattack in the 47th minute as his shot struck off the top bar.
Contrary to their first-half performance, the Bonnies utilized their explosive counterattacks through midfielder Dean Mercer, forward Rashid Aroza and Akuazaoku. In the 82nd minute, Akuazaoku capitalized on a defensive error from the Dukes, stealing the ball from defender Grant McIntosh and going around Nagy to calmly score the Bonnies’ second goal to close the game.
Kwame Oduro, the Bonnies men’s soccer coach, said the Dukes’ second-half tactics allowed the Bonnies to exploit their weakness through counterattacks.
“When you score first, you are almost in control. The other team has to push more numbers up and if they do, you must sit in and counterattack, and that’s what we did,” said Oduro. “We hoped to control more in the second half, but sometimes they push so many numbers back up at us. We must sit back, absorb pressure and counter.”
Akuazaoku added to his season’s total goals and assist tally to five and three, respectively. Mercer, the freshman midfielder, claimed his first assist of the season for the first goal. Pucci secured his second career shutout after having nine saves, a career-high.
Oduro said the team learned from their defensive blunders from their 5-2 home game loss to the University of Massachusetts.
“The last game at home was more about stupid elementary errors where we gave away two penalty kicks, two free kicks, and two mistakes. We wanted to learn from that,” said Oduro. “I thought we played a good game, eliminating stupid errors.”
Oduro also explained that the team did well in containing Da as the team displayed patience and discipline when diving in for a tackle after doubling down on the Dukes forward.
The Bonnies wrap up their homestead with Senior Day against La Salle Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. conference match on Saturday, Oct. 14. The Explorers have a 5-5-3 (1-2-2 in conference) record and lead the all-time series against the Bonnies at 8-3-1. The Bonnies are winless against the Explorers in their last three matchups.
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