Cleveland State men’s soccer captured its first victory of the season on Tuesday as it defeated St. Bonaventure, 3-2, courtesy of a late goal from Pablo Kawecki.

With the game tied at 2-2 heading into the final 10 minutes, Kawecki tallied the eventual game-winning goal in the 82nd minute off an assist from Jannis Schmidt. The Vikings had trailed in the contest twice before taking the lead for good. 

Cleveland State battled through an opening goal from the Bonnies’ Mathew Wrobel off a cross from Mattia Ferrertti. The Vikings (1-2-0) shook off that early goal with an equalizer from sophomore Julian Pellegrini in the 23rd minute as he connected on a through ball from Schmidt to beat Bonnies goalkeeper Justyn Sandhu.

The Bonnies (0-2-1) tacked on another goal 10 minutes later, beginning with a dazzling pass from Mathew Wrobel to Joshua Pulla who put it in the back of the net to retake the lead, 2-1.

St. Bonaventure remained ahead 2-1 at halftime while also holding a 7-6 advantage in shots. 

Bojan Kolevski evened the contest in the opening minute of the second half as he connected off a pair of passes from Pellegrini and Ryan Kolonick. 

Neither side could muster any momentum for the remainder of the second half until Kawecki’s goal gave the Vikings the victory.  

The Vikings outshot their opponent 13-10 on the night. After a rough outing against Bowling Green, Cleveland State’s defense thrived under the lights as they held the Bonnies to just three shots-on-goal. St. Bonaventure did find their way around the Green and White’s defense with nine corner kicks. Both squads struggled with fouls as the Vikings tallied 14 violations while the Bonnies had 11 infractions.

St. Bonaventure’s Sandhu had eight saves while CSU’s Omeed Naeemy had two. 

The Vikings enter Horizon League play on Saturday as they travel to Green Bay. Kick off is at 8 p.m. It will be the 14th meeting between the programs with the Phoenix holding an 8-4-1 advantage.