NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara men's soccer team was defeated by Little 3 rival St. Bonaventure by a score of 3-1 Sunday afternoon at Niagara Field.

Rookie Nicholas Watson  was the only Purple Eagle to find the back of the net with his first career goal at Niagara, but the Bonnies were able to capitalize on their scoring opportunities to prevent the Purps from finding their first victory of the season.

"Overall we played really well as a team.  There was just a couple individual decisions that let us down and cost us goals," head coach Eric Barnes said.  "We showed a little bit of heart by getting one goal back, but obviously if you put yourself in that big of a hole it'll be hard to battle back.  We need to be ready to go Friday and with the lineup pretty much set the guys know what's expected of them." 

St. Bonaventure (2-0-0) began the scoring in the 12th minute as Kolby Banker got a head on Brad Vanino's corner kick.  Steve Carcaterro gave the Bonnies a two-goal lead after putting away a rebound that had pinged off the post from a Robert D'Cruz attempt.  Niagara goalkeeper Eleftherios Lazaridis  kept the Purple Eagles in the game with a superb diving save in the 30th minute, pushing away a laser from D'Cruz just outside the 18-yard line.  

The teams went into the halftime with Niagara holding an 8-5 advantage in shots over St. Bonaventure.

The Purple Eagles began the second half with a couple of quality scoring chances from Callum Willmott, but his efforts were not rewarded on the scoreboard.  A little over two minutes in Watson whipped a cross into the far end of the box that was headed by Willmott straight off the post.  Several minutes later a chip from Willmott looked to be headed into the goal, but Bonnie goalkeeper Jeremy Figler got his fingers on it to tip it high.

The Bonnies added to their lead in the 52nd minute off the foot of Emmett O'Connor.  Spencer Semple  made the initial save on Nicholas Perillo, but his rebound was pounced on by O'Connor to make it 3-0.

The Purple Eagles were finally able to break through the Bonnie defense in the 85th minute as Julian Ekeze played a through ball to Watson who was streaking down the left side and the freshman tucked the ball in the left corner of the goal to make it a two-goal game.

All three Niagara keepers saw action in net—Lazaridis making two saves in the first half, while Semple added a stop. 

Niagara host UMass-Lowell next Friday, Sept. 6 at 4 p.m. before embarking on a four-game road trip.