March 11, 2008

Final Stats

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Led by a solid defense effort and timely goal scoring, the St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team held on to defeat Canisius 11-10 on Tuesday evening.

The victory is the first of the season for the Bonnies and the first under head coach Christy Malone. The Griffs fall to 0-3 on the season.

One of the NCAA's active career-assists leaders, senior Brenna Houghton assumed the role of goal scorer on this evening with a game-high four scores. Classmates Kimberly Ross and Meghan Murphy rounded out the multi-goal scorers for the visitors with two tallies each. Sophomore Patty Nessle passed out three assists for the second consecutive game, while senior Stephanie Jordan and freshman Christine Hanley each had two points.

Eboni Preston went the distance in cage for the Brown and White, making seven saves in the win.

A frantic opening 11 minutes featured seven goals as Canisius held a slight 4-3 lead.

The Griffs took the first two-goal lead of the game, 5-3, but the Bonnies responded with two scores of their own to knot the game at 5-5 with 14:20 left in the first half. Jordan found Houghton for the first goal, while Nessle delivered a pass to junior Keri Vito, who promptly put it in the back of the net.

Despite Houghton tallying her third goal of the game before the halftime horn, the Golden Griffs tallied two of the half's final three goals to take a 7-6 edge into the locker room.

St. Bonaventure regained the lead for the first time since early in the second half with two goals in the opening four minutes of the final frame. Ross extended her goal scoring streak to 18 games by converting a free position shot. Houghton struck again just minutes later for her fourth of the game off a pass from Hanley.

A Canisius goal brought the game to 8-8, but the tie was short-lived as Jordan put the score back in the Bonnies favor, 9-8, with 20:14 left.

The game featured just two goals over the next 12 minutes, but unfortunately for the Bonnies, they came off the stick of Canisius' Taylor Gray to give the home team a 10-9 edge with eight minutes remaining.

Just 21 seconds later, Ross tied the score at 10-10 on a pass from Nessle setting the stage for what appeared to be a crucial draw control.

Hanley came down with the draw control for the Bonnies, but it proved to have little worth as both teams had several possessions to take the lead. With 1:41 left, Murphy made good on the Brown and White's fifth chance since the last goal, notching a free position score.

Hanley collected the next draw control, as well, allowing the Bonnies to run out the clock and hold on for their first win.

St. Bonaventure will have just a few days of rest before it plays a pair of games this weekend. Both contests will be played at Alfred University, starting with a 3 p.m. tilt against Siena on Friday. The Brown and White will then take on Albany at 1 p.m. on Sunday.