March 8, 2008

Final Stats

Despite a strong push midway through the second half, the St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team failed to score a goal in the final 15 minutes as it fell to Delaware 16-9 on Saturday morning.

The loss drops the Bonnies to 0-2 on the season, while the Blue Hens improve to 2-1.

Delaware was able to overcome 24 turnovers and a 29-22 deficit in ground balls by dominating the draw controls. For the second consecutive game the Brown and White lost the draw control battle, this time by a 20-7 margin.

Eight players hit the back of the net for the Bonnies, led by junior Keri Vito's two scores. Sophomore Patty Nessle passed out three assists with her one goal for four points. Senior Kimberly Ross' goal pushed her goal streak to 17 games as she also dished out two assists.

Like St. Bonaventure, Delaware had eight players score goals. Five of those players finished with hat tricks led by Emil Schaknowski, who also added three assists.

Delaware jumped out to a commanding 5-1 lead by the 13-minute mark as five different players scored during the run.

The Brown and White answered with back-to-back goals by freshman Catie Greene and sophomore Molly Hastrich to make it 5-3. Both goals came off assists from sophomore Patty Nesssle as Greene's tally was the first of her career.

After trading to goals to make it a 6-4 game, the Blue Hens held St. Bonaventure scoreless over the final nine minutes of the frame and scored two goals to take a 8-4 lead at the break.

Delaware controlled the opening draw control of the second half and took it straight to cage as Nicole Flego became the seventh different player to score for the home team.

Just under five minutes later, St. Bonaventure got its first goal of the game as senior Kimberly Ross found Vito for her second goal of the game at the 24:45 mark.

Following another Delaware goal that made it 10-5, the Bonnies found their rhythm on the offensive end tallying four of the games next five goals to make 11-9 with 15:27 left. The first three goals of the run were unassisted as freshman Christine Hanley converted a free position shot while Nessle and Ross found the back of the net for their first goals of the game. The final tally came off the stick of senior Stephanie Jordan from Hanley.

With the momentum clearly in St. Bonaventure's favor, Delaware put its run to emphatic stop by holding the visitors scoreless over the final 15 minutes while adding five goals of their own. During the final 15 minutes, the Blue Hen defense forced the Bonnies into three failed clear attempts and mere one shot.

Senior Eboni Preston was bombarded by 39 shots, including 29 on cage, making 13 saves in the loss. St. Bonaventure will back in action on Tuesday for its third straight road game as it heads north to take on Little 3 rival Canisius. Draw time is slated for 4 p.m.