April 29, 2007

Final Stats

WASHINGTON, D.C. - With a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title on the line, the St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team turned in a gutsy effort in a hard-fought 12-11 loss at George Washington on Sunday afternoon at Mount Vernon Field.

The Colonials (10-6, 6-1) share the regular season crown with Richmond, which beat Duquesne today to improve to 6-1 in league play. The Spiders will be the top-seed in next weekend's Atlantic 10 Tournament due to their win over George Washington earlier in the season.

The Bonnies (8-6, 5-2) will be the third-seed in the tournament for the second year in a row and will get a rematch with the second-seeded Colonials in the semifinals on Friday, May 4 at 3:30 p.m. Host Temple rounds out the tournament field as the fourth-seed and will take on Richmond at 1 p.m. in the other semifinal game.

Sophomore Katelyn Faas had a team-high five points on four goals and an assist. Faas' third goal of the game gave her 50 for the season, making her the first player in program history to hit the half century mark in back-to-back seasons. Junior Brenna Houghton continued her assault on the Bona record books with three assists, giving her 40 for the season - a school single-season record.

It was all St. Bonaventure early on as junior Kimberly Ross and Faas buried two goals apiece in the opening 12:13 for a 4-1 lead.

That would be all GW defense would surrender the rest of the half as the Colonials closed on a 3-0 run to make it a 4-4 game at the break.

Freshman Patty Nessle started the scoring in a wild second half that featured 15 goals, five ties and three lead changes.

George Washington answered minutes later to tie the score at 5-5. The Bonnies stormed right back as Houghton found classmate Stephanie Jordan for back-to-back goals, making it 7-5.

After holding GW's Kristin Karsch to no goals in the first half, the junior got on track midway through the second frame with three-straight goals over a three-minute span to vault the Colonials back into the lead, 8-7, with 19:47 remaining.

Back-to-back goals by Ross and Faas gave the lead back to the Bonnies at 9-8.

George Washington took its first two-goal lead of the game, 11-9, nine minutes later thanks to its second 3-0 run of the half.

The Bonnies continued to fight back, notching the games next to goals to tie the score at 11-11 with just 5:10 to play. Faas scored the first goal, while Houghton converted on a free position shot to tie the game.

A determined Karsch gathered the ensuing draw control and sprinted down the field to set up the Colonial offense. Karsch's initial shot on net was saved by Eboni Preston, but she batted home the rebound for her fifth score of the half and the eventual game-winning goal.

St. Bonaventure had three possessions down the stretch, but turned the ball over before it could get off any shots.

Senior Robin Mason turned in a solid all-around effort with seven draw controls and four ground balls. Preston made 10 saves in net to extend her double-digit saves streak to nine games.