ST. BONAVENTURE (8-3, 3-1 MAAC) at QUINNIPIAC (2-8, 1-3 MAAC)
Saturday, April 23 – 12:00 p.m.
Hamden, Conn.

The St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team is back on the road this weekend, traveling to Connecticut for a date at Quinnpiac Saturday afternoon in the penultimate game of the regular season. The game will be streamed live through the Quinnipiac website.

LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK
Bona's seeks a bounce back this weekend after a 14-11 setback at Siena last Saturday that snapped a six-game winning streak, longest in the MAAC this season. Despite that result, the Bonnies remain tied atop the MAAC standings at 3-1 in conference play along with Marist, which has won three straight since SBU won on the Red Foxes home turf to begin MAAC play.

PLAYOFF PICTURE
With two weeks left in the regular season, all four MAAC Tournament spots remain up for grabs. The Bonnies are tied with Marist at 3-1, but Bona's controls its own destiny after holding the tiebreaker with Marist. Manhattan (3-2) and Monmouth (2-2) are third and fourth respectively while Siena (2-3), Quinnipiac (1-3) and Canisius (1-3) remain alive in the playoff race. The top four seeds will advance to MAAC Championship Weekend May 5-7. The MAAC champion earns the league's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.

RECORD-SETTING HEIGHTS
Senior Jackson Rose continues to add to his team-best goals total, now with 28 on the season. Last weekend, Rose broke the all-time school record for single-season goals, surpassing Paul Demore's total of 25 in 1992. Sean Westley finished last year's 10-game campaign with 23 goals. Rose also ranks second nationally in shot percentage, sending over 56 percent of his shot attempts into the back of the net. Only High Point's Brayden Mayea has a higher shot percentage this year (56.9%).

Westley currently stands with 41 points on the season, surpassing Jake Rosa's 39 last year as the most since the rebirth of the Bonnies program. Westley is now tied with the all-time SBU intercollegiate record for season points held by Paul Demore who tallied 41 points in 1992. Westley is also chasing the single-season assists mark of 23 set by Todd Cilano in 1993. Westley has 20 helpers so far this year. Jake Rosa finished with 22 last year.
 
ROOKIE CONTRIBUTIONS
While a large part of Bona's success thus far can be attributed to its impressive senior class, an influx of freshmen has added some needed depth to take the program to the next level this season. Conor Murphy has played in all 11 games and is tied for sixth on the team with 10 points including five goals and five assists. Fellow freshman Anthony Cimino has also been a mainstay this season and is one of the MAAC's leaders in assists with nine. At the faceoff X, Trent Grainger has been key, ranking second in the MAAC with a winning percentage of nearly 55 percent, a nearly 20% increase for the Bonnies at the X over last year. Aiden MacDonell has also been a regular contributor to Bona's top-ranked defense.
 
LOCKDOWN DEFENSE
St. Bonaventure enters this weekend ranking among the national leaders in scoring defense, leading the MAAC at just 8.7 goals allowed per game. While much of that goes back to the amazing play of Brett Dobson in net, the Bonnies have several of the MAAC's top defenders. The defensive unit was bolstered in a big way with the preseason All-MAAC pick Zack Belter, who returned for the conference opener after missing all of non-conference play due to injury. The senior long pole has caused six turnovers in his four games this year, adding eight groundballs while bringing an imposing presence defensively. Sophomore Cam Germain has started every game (10 GB, 5 CT) as has junior Adam Shank (5 CT) while sophomore Nick Porfilio has logged crucial minutes (13 GB, 6 CT). Senior Andrew Hersey (13 GB, 5 CT) has added valuable depth at LSM. The unit has continued to thrive despite the loss of David Steria to injury. Steria was one of the MAAC's leaders in caused turnovers with 10 through seven games this year.

BY THE NUMBERS
9 - Senior attack Sean Westley has a team-best nine career points vs. the Bobcats. He also has six career goals vs. Quinnipiac in three games.
13 - Bona scored 13 goals in the season-opening win at Quinnpiac last year, the most by the Bonnies in any game to that point. SBU did not surpass that total until this March with a 21-0 win over Hampton. 
28 - Jackson Rose stands second among all MAAC players with 28 goals this season. That total is the most in Bonnies men's lacrosse single-season history. 
52.2% - St. Bonaventure has won 52.2% of faceoff opportunities this year. In the first three seasons as a Division I program, SBU never did better than last season's 37.2% at the faceoff X.


SERIES HISTORY
Quinnipiac has won two of the three all-time meetings, but Bona's win was a memorable one. After starting 0-19 in the first two seasons following the rebirth of the program in 2019 and the 2020 pandemic shutdown, SBU picked up its first-ever Division I win March 6, 2021 at Quinnipiac. Austin Blumbergs tallied six points in the win while Jake Rosa had five and Sean Westley four. With that game not counting toward MAAC standings, though, Bona has never beaten Quinnipiac in a "conference" game. The Bobcats stole a 5-4 win in Western New York later last season, netting the game-winner with 10 seconds to play on a goal by Jake Tomsik. Goalie Brett Dobson has 34 saves in the three all-time games.

ABOUT QUINNIPIAC

• The Bobcats are 1-3 in MAAC play, winning at Canisius in their last league action April 9, 15-10. Quinnipiac also suffered a 9-8 heartbreaker vs. Monmouth and a 9-7 decision at Manhattan before a 17-10 loss to Marist.
• Quinnipiac has played only two games at home this year, seeking their first win on home turf.
• The Bobcats had their MAAC bye last weekend, playing at Virginia where the No. 6-ranked Cavaliers won, 21-9. Will Abbott and John DeLucia each scored twice for Quinnipiac.
• Steven Germain leads the squad with 17 goals, tied with Ryan Donnery for the team points lead at 23.
• Nick DiMuccio has made 137 saves with a .487 save percentage on the year in net.

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