The Massachusetts women’s soccer team pulled out a gritty 1-0 victory for its first Atlantic 10 conference win of the season against St. Bonaventure on Sunday afternoon. Both teams were looking to pick up their first conference win of the season, but the Minutewomen (6-3-1, 1-1 Atlantic 10) prevailed, earning their sixth shutout of the season.
Chandler Pedolzky scored the lone goal of the contest for the Minutewomen off a corner kick in the 17th minute. Ella Curry made a short pass to Bella Recinos, who passed it back to Curry to make the cross. Ashley Lamond received the connection with a high kick, and Pedolzky got her foot on the ball, directing it to the back of the net.
“It’s a combination of organization and our players knowing what their responsibilities are in those set play moments,” head coach Jason Dowiak said. “It was a good reactionary moment from [Lamond] to get the initial rebound back on frame and a really good reaction from [Pedolzky] just to redirect it into the goal.
While the Minutewomen more than tripled the Bonnies’ (1-8-1, 0-2 A-10) shots on goal 13-4, St. Bonaventure had close scoring opportunities in the second half. After a long shot brushed over UMass goalkeeper Bella Mendoza’s hands in the 65th minute, Sydney Hayward headed the ball into the goal for what looked to be the game tying score, but it was called back after it was determined that the Bonnies were offside on the play.
The UMass defense held St. Bonaventure shotless in the first half. The Bonnies’ first shot of the game came five minutes into the second half, where Mika Marolly dribbled the ball up the right sideline before crossing to Thea Juul. Juul sent the ball straight to Mendoza, who made the save.
Grace Pinkus led the Minutewomen in shots on goal with three, and Pedolzky, Recinos and Caroline Dickson all followed with two each. In the final two minutes of the first half, Pinkus took a shot from outside the penalty box, but Bonnies’ goalkeeper Chiara Gottinger made a diving save, hitting the ball up to the cross bar where it bounced back into play and was cleared by a Bonnies defender.
“A-10 play is so tough to go Thursday – Sunday, getting the level high, traveling, and I would say we weren’t quite ourselves today,” Dowiak said. “I think we put a lot of energy and effort into the amazing performance we thought we had against Saint Louis on Thursday and that’s draining. We got a good goal early on and probably needed to try to put a couple more in early on.”
“We definitely have a potent attacking crew and I think today, credit to [St. Bonaventure], they recovered really hard and made it difficult for us.”
It was a physical contest between UMass and St. Bonaventure with a combined 18 fouls and four yellow cards. Pedolzky picked up the Minutewomen’s only card for a push after a whistle, while Marolly, Lauren Westwood and Torrie Grant-Clavijo each tallied a card for the Bonnies. St. Bonaventure doubled UMass’ fouls, 12-6.
“The energy was really good, almost a little chaotic, like our group was really fired up today,” Dowiak said. “We played everybody that was healthy today, field player wise, and got some minutes and some experience for some of our younger players which is really good too. It’s just managing the emotions of the highs and lows of conference play and trying to be consistent is always going to be something we are working towards.”
The Minutewomen return home to face Fordham at Rudd Field on Thursday, Sept. 26th. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.
Devin Lippman can be reached at [email protected] and followed on X @devinlippman.
