ST. BONAVENTURE (7-2, 2-0 MAAC) vs. MONMOUTH (4-4, 1-1 MAAC)
Saturday, April 9 – 12:00 p.m.
Marra Athletics Complex
TV: ESPN+

OPENING FACEOFF
St. Bonaventure looks to maintain the momentum it had going into its bye week, riding high after five consecutive victories. The current winning streak is the longest in program history.

The Bonnies are 2-0 in MAAC play and have perhaps the biggest game of the year on the schedule this weekend as defending conference champion Monmouth visits the Marra Athletics Complex. Saturday's game is a rematch of last year's MAAC semifinal contest won by the Hawks on their home turf.
 
ACCOLADES ROLLING IN FOR DOBSON
Bonnies senior goalie Brett Dobson has earned several honors for his outstanding play.

• He was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List for the nation's top player on April 1. The award represents lacrosse's version of the Heisman Trophy.
• He was also selected to the Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-America Teams March 31.
• Dobson currently leads the nation in save percentage (.659), ranks second in saves per game (16.3) and third in goals against average (8.8). He leads the MAAC in all three categories.
• Dobson is a five-time MAAC Defensive Player of the Week.

IN THE RANKINGS
St. Bonaventure players rank highly both in the MAAC and nationally. In addition to Dobson's ranks:

• Jackson Rose leads the MAAC and is second nationally in shot percentage (.590). He ranks third in the league in goals per game, leading the team with 23 goals on the year.
• Sean Westley leads the MAAC and is 24^th among all Division I players with two assists per game. He paces the team with 18 helpers on the year.
• Westley and Jake Rosa rank first and second in points per game among all MAAC players this season at 4 and 3.67 respectively. Overall, Westley has a MAAC-best 36 points while Rosa checks in with 33.
• Trent Grainger has been key for a turnaround at the faceoff X this season. He has a .559 winning percentage this year, good for second among all MAAC faceoff specialists.
• Anthony Cimino is ninth in MAAC assists with nine.
• Brady Wijbrandts is ninth in MAAC groundballs (30) after tying the program single-game record with 10 in the win over Manhattan.

APPROACHING THE CENTURY MARK
Senior Sean Westley can make a bit of program history Saturday. He enters the game with 99 career points and is in line to become the first Bonnies player to reach 100 career points at the Division I level. He owns 56 goals and 43 assists in 38 career games thus far.

CLEAN SWEEP
Before the bye week, the Bonnies captured a convincing win over Manhattan, 15-9, at home March 26. Following that game, SBU swept the MAAC weekly awards for the first time in program history: Jake Rosa earned Offensive Player of the Week as he matched a career-high with seven points (four goals, three assists). Brett Dobson again earned Defensive Player of the Week with 15 saves and a .652 save percentage and Trent Grainger took both Faceoff Specialist of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors after winning a program-record 18 faceoffs. 

LOCKDOWN DEFENSE
St. Bonaventure is one of the nation's top defensive teams again this year. The Bonnies rank second among all D-I teams in goals against (8.7), behind only Georgetown (8.5). Last year, the Bonnies finished the season ranking fourth in the nation for scoring defense, allowing 9.1 goals to opponents per game.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
St. Bonaventure was picked fifth in the preseason MAAC Coaches' Poll, but has been making an impact early in the year. The Bonnies already defeated the preseason No. 2, Marist, on the road in the conference-opener and the preseason No. 3, Manhattan, in their last game. SBU now gets a chance at the preseason conference favorite as Monmouth, last year's MAAC champs, captured six of the seven first-place votes.

HOME COOKING
The Marra Athletics Complex has been very good to the Bonnies over the past year. St. Bonaventure has not dropped a home game in over a full calendar year, winning eight straight on home turf since starting the streak April 2, 2021 in a victory over Manhattan.

ELITE TERRITORY
Only nine Division I teams have more victories than Bona's seven so far this year – Rutgers (10), Duke, Jacksonville, Maryland (nine each) and Saint Joseph's, Boston, Army, Georgetown, Cornell (eight each).

VETERAN LEADERSHIP
Just three years ago, the Bonnies were the youngest team in the country with 34 freshmen, the third-most in Division I history.

This year, the script is flipped as the Bonnies have 21 seniors. Only Rutgers (28) has more seniors on the roster at the Division I level.

SERIES HISTORY
Bona is seeking its first-ever win against Monmouth. The Hawks own a 3-0 advantage all-time, winning last year's MAAC semifinal, 12-5. The Bonnies started strong in last year's semifinal, owning a 4-3 lead after 15 minutes. The final three quarters belonged to the Hawks, though, as they finished the game on a 9-1 run. A key for the Hawks was winning 17 of 22 faceoffs. The first game of the year was much closer: Monmouth came away with a 13-12 victory in the third game of the year despite four goals from Jake Rosa. In the only previous meeting in Western New York, Monmouth held on for a 7-5 victory April 2, 2019.

Monmouth is the only team in the MAAC the Bonnies have never beaten.

ABOUT MONMOUTH

• The Hawks enter this weekend 1-1 in MAAC play and looking to bounce back from a 10-1 setback vs. Siena last weekend. Goalie Noah Lode made 17 saves in the loss. Monmouth won at Quinnipiac, 9-8, to begin conference action.
• Junior Connor Macrae leads the team and ranks sixth in the MAAC with 20 goals this year.
• Lode ranks fourth in the league in both saves per game (13.7) and goals against average (11.6).
• Monmouth played two Top 20 teams in non-conference play, opening the season with losses at No. 18 Princeton (22-6) and No. 17 Delaware (17-6). The Hawks and Bonnies have two common non-conference opponents – Monmouth lost at Saint Joseph's, 15-10 (Bona's lost at SJU on a last-second goal, 12-11) and Monmouth beat VMI, 11-6 (Bona's won at VMI in overtime, 9-8).
• Monmouth has a 37.5% success rate on the power play while opponents have cashed in at just a 23% rate. The Hawks have a .489 winning percentage at the faceoff X, led by 89 faceoff wins from Matt Soutar.

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