PHILADELPHIA - Hannah Lapp broke a 1-1 tie with a penalty kick in the 51st minute after Tori Burchett tied the game in the 49th to lift St. Bonaventure to a 2-1 victory and a berth in its fourth straight Atlantic 10 Championship at Saint Joseph's Friday night.
The victory guarantees SBU its fourth straight bid to the A-10 Championship -Â a feat no team in school history has accomplished. The Bonnies will be the No. 5 or 6 seed in next weekend's Championship at Dayton pending the outcome of Sunday's match versus Temple (5-12, 2-6).
Charlotte could move into the No. 5 slot with a win versus Dayton, but would be eliminated with a Saint Louis win, as the Billikens hold the tiebreaker. La Salle is guaranteed the No. 1 overall seed, with Richmond, UMass and Dayton also punching tickets.
The Hawks (6-7-5, 1-4-3) took advantage of a slow start from the Bonnies, scoring just 3:13 into the game when Nicole King lifted a shot just under the crossbar.
St. Bonaventure (9-6-3, 4-2-2) settled in from there though, and rallied in the second half to improve to 4-1-1 in its last six contests down the stretch.
"We stepped up our competitive level, played to find feet, and played at a level that was difficult to defend," commented Bonnies' head coach Manoj Khettry.
Burchett's goal came just 2:42 into the second half and marked the 20th tally of her career, good for a 16th place tie on the school's all-time list (Jen Twardzik).
Just over three minutes later, Hannah Lapp converted a penalty kick to give SBU the lead for good. It was the third game-winning goal of her career and she is now 3-for-4 on PKs all time.
"This is a group that has been to three straight Atlantic 10 Championships and wanted to get back to a fourth. We found a way to win," said Khettry.
Bona seniors Emily Buccilla, Kaitlin Krisko, Chelsea Smetzer, Janelle Taylor, Alicia D'Alessandro, Dakota Carroll, Shannon Van Riper, Burchett and  Lapp have amassed a 42-34-4 overall record in the last four seasons, marking the third-highest win percentage (.525) for a senior class in school history. No senior class has won more than 42 games.
