POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team stretched its winning streak to four in a row in memorable fashion, holding off Marist, 7-6, Saturday afternoon at Tenney Stadium.

St. Bonaventure moved to 6-2 overall by winning its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener, holding off the Red Foxes in a defensive battle.

Austin Blumbergs and Sean Westley each scored twice while Westley's three points led the offense. Brett Dobson, the three-time MAAC Defensive Player of the Week, was absolutely outstanding again in net by making 19 saves for the Bonnies.

"I am so proud of our guys; this was a great team win," St. Bonaventure head coach Randy Mearns said. "Brett was unbelievable between the pipes and it was a gritty game on both sides. We were able to make the plays when we needed to. We're learning how to win and that is great to see."

Marist, which was selected second in the MAAC preseason poll and won the league title in 2019, entered the day with a deceiving 1-5 record after playing nationally-ranked Rutgers and Richmond as well as Air Force, Delaware and Bucknell in an extremely challenging non-conference slate.

The Red Foxes held a 1-0 advantage after 15 minutes and held the Bonnies off the board until just 6:49 remained before halftime.

Bona's defense stood tall as well, though, only allowing Marist to build a 2-0 lead before Austin Blumbergs got the Bonnies on the board off a feed from Jake Rosa.

Marist won the faceoff and, following a Bona penalty, scored on the man-up for a 3-1 advantage, but the Brown and White scored twice before half on tallies from Blumbergs and Westley for a deadlock at intermission.

Goals remained at a premium during the second half as the 3-3 tie remained for over five and a half minutes into the third period before Westley gave the Bonnies their first lead of the day with his 15^th goal of the year following an assist from Anthony Cimino.

The hosts would even the score just 18 seconds before the end of the third, sending the teams to the final quarter with a 4-4 score.

St. Bonaventure would establish control in the fourth.

Cian Collins worked a pass across field to Zach Owens where the senior Owens fired a shot over his defender's shoulder inside the top post for a 5-4 lead with 10:57 remaining.

Trent Grainger won the next faceoff which would immediately lead to breathing room for the Bonnies. Brett Beetow worked behind the net in front, dishing to Conor Murphy who scored high to low for his third goal of the year and a 6-4 tally.

Jojo Pirreca brought the hosts back within one with still 9:04 to go, but Collins would double the Bonnies lead with just over four minutes left.

In the waning seconds, Marist made things interesting.

Kellen Pulera scored on the power play with 55 seconds to go and Marist gained possession off the faceoff. The Red Foxes had a chance to tie with 18 seconds to go, firing a shot on net that was denied by Dobson. The senior goalie scooped up the groundball and Bona's clear attempt was good to run out the clock and lock in one of the top victories in the young program history.

The Bonnies return home next Saturday, hosting Manhattan at the Marra Athletics Complex at 1 p.m.

GAME NOTES

• Five of Bona's eight games this season have been decided by one goal with the Bonnies going 4-1 in those contests.
• Dobson has 19 or more saves in five games already this season.
• St. Bonaventure's four-game winning streak is the longest in its Division I history.
• Bona opens MAAC play by winning its conference opener for the first time since joining the league with the program rebirth in 2019.
• MAAC All-Conference senior Zack Belter made his return to the lineup after missing the entire non-conference schedule due to injury. Belter immediately made an impact with two caused turnovers and four groundballs.
• Dobson picked up seven groundballs in addition to his saves.

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