ST. BONAVENTURE — The St. Bonaventure women’s soccer team battled to a 1-1 tie against Charleston Southern on Sunday at the Marra Athletics Complex in the 2025 season-opener.

The contest marked the first time the team has opened its season at home since welcoming Binghamton to open the 2018 tilt. It was also head coach Melissa Sherwood’s debut with the team after spending the past three seasons at Mount St. Mary’s.

Forward Giovanna Coghetto was the deciding factor in her first game as a Bonnie, as she pushed a penalty kick past Buccaneer goalkeeper Avery Mason in the opening minutes of the second half. The graduate student’s shot would even the score and serve as the game’s final shift on the scoreboard.

Though the Bonnies opened the match at a patient pace and weathered multiple chances from the visitors in the early going, they could not keep their foes scoreless for long. In the 19th minute, defender Claire DeAngelis collected a deflected pass and sent a shot floating over SBU goalkeeper Juliana Castellano’s head, which bounced off the crossbar and into the net.

From that point on, the Buccaneers controlled the possession battle, keeping the ball in their attacking half and searching for openings.

Bonaventure put its first shot on goal in the 25th minute as forward Ekemini Udofa sprinted into the box and fired, but Buccaneer goalkeeper Avery Mason was there to stop the threat. Another promising opportunity was turned away just five minutes later as a free kick into the box from captain Hannah Walker was deflected and cleared.

Castellano got comfortable by making her first save of the season in the 37th minute, and after some back-and-forth play, the two teams headed into the break separated by just one.

The Brown and White came out of halftime with energy, nearly benefitting from another Udofa fast break, which was denied at the last moment by defender Addie Lemmond. During an SBU corner kick shortly after, Lemmond was called for a foul in the box, setting up Coghetto’s pivotal score on the penalty kick.

Once tied, the two defenses bolstered for the remainder of the game, reluctant to give up any chance. The closest the Buccaneers would get to netting a second goal would come in the 57th minute, as a cross landed in the possession of a wide-open Jillian Brown, but the midfielder soared the shot well over the target.

The teams traded unlikely scoring chances for much of the remaining time until some fireworks in the final five minutes.

A foul called on midfielder Jolie Bull in the 86th minute set Charleston Southern up with a free kick, which was deflected and cleared by defender Paula Sanabria Diaz. Shortly afterwards, Castellano stepped in front of a cross to stop the Buccaneer’s final chance of the contest and secure the result.

Bonaventure finished with six shots to the Buccaneers’ ten, and both sides collected four saves each. The teams combined for 12 fouls.

Daniela De Souza dribbles the ball in an exhibition against Cornell.

Sunday marked the first game for the Bonnies under new head coach Melissa Sherwood, who joined the Bonnies in January after spending the past three seasons at Mount St. Mary’s.

Sherwood’s squad features seven returners and 17 newcomers. Returning in 2025 are seniors Hannah Walker (17 starts), Jael Schubert (seven starts) and Kellsie Flint (three games), junior Juliana Castellano (one game) and sophomores Ekemini Udofa (eight games), Hannah Smith and Hannah Lindenberger. New to the team this season are graduate transfers Paula Sanabria Diaz (Barbera del Valles, Spain), Nicolle Santos de Sousa (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Zoi Akrivaki (Thessaloniki, Greece), Giovanna Coghetto (Maserada Sul Piave, Italy), Daniela De Souza (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), Hinano Nakagawa (Komatsu, Japan), Beatriz Cairos (Florianopolis, Brazil) and Maria Alonso (Boadilla del Monte, Spain), junior transfers Naomi Sharma Tobar (Brampton, Ontario) and Nayelle Heredia (Plainville, Conn.), sophomore transfer Adelaide Paredes (Newark, N.J.) and freshmen Jolie Bull (Baltimore, Md.), Addison Brown (Staten Island), Abigail Wysong (Bel Air South, Md.), Kaitlyn Jamison (Yorba Linda, Calif.), Caitlyn Kellogg (Allegany) and Kacy Kuehl (Liberty, Mo.).

Following the season opener at home Sunday, the Bonnies will head out for five straight games on the road. The Bonnies will visit Binghamton (Aug. 21), Youngstown State (Aug. 24), Saint Peter’s (Aug. 28), Post (Sept. 31) and Cleveland State (Sept. 7).