March 24, 2009

Box Score

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - The St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team scored the first four goals of the game and never looked back, cruising to a 19-5 victory over Niagara on Tuesday afternoon at McGraw Jennings Field.

The victory is the Brown and White's fourth out of their last five games, and second straight at home, as they improve to 4-3 on the season. Niagara, on the other hand, drops its fourth straight game to fall to 3-6 on the season.

Leading the way for the St. Bonaventure on the offensive end was sophomore Christine Hanley and junior Molly Hastrich, who scored five goals apiece in the win. In all, eight different Bonnies scored at least one goal on the day, highlighted by freshman Elizabeth Demara and Kristi Tamasitis who each scored their first goals of the season.

Getting the start in net, and picking up the win, for the St. Bonaventure was junior Tori Waheibi. Waheibi played all 60 minutes, allowing all five goals while making five saves in the victory.

The Bonnies peppered Niagara goalkeeper Whitney Gill all game, firing an incredible 47 shots for the game with 38 of them getting on goal. The Brown and White also won the turnover battle, forcing the Purple Eagles into 15 miscues while making just 12 of their own.

St. Bonaventure, as previously mentioned scored the first four goals of the game. A Danielle Drabin buried her second goal of the game, off a pass from Samantha Cavallaro, to put the Bonnies up 4-0 with 17:37 left in the first half.

Senior Vanessa Schultz got the Purple Eagles on the board with an unassisted goal to make the score 4-1 St. Bonaventure with 16:05 remaining in the first stanza.

The Brown and White would put some more distance between themselves and Niagara over the next four minutes of the half. The Bonnies would score five straight goals during that span, including three by Hastrich, to widen their lead to a 9-1 advantage.

The Purple Eagles would score two goals late in the first half to make the score 10-3 St. Bonaventure going into intermission.

The game would essentially be wrapped up after the Bonnies scored the first three goals coming out of halftime to take a commanding 13-3 lead with just 25:27 left in the game.

Gill played all 60 minutes in goal for Niagara and made 19 saves in the loss.

Junior Courtney Formato scored two goals in the game for the Purple Eagles, as she was the only player from the visiting team to score more than one goal on the afternoon

The Brown and White will be back in action on Friday, March 27, when they travel to Virginia to take on Richmond in its Atlantic 10 opener. Game time is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.