NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The Atlantic 10 Conference will add men's lacrosse as the league's 22nd sport, with conference play and the initial championship taking place in the 2022-23 academic year. St. Bonaventure is one of four Atlantic 10 institutions who currently sponsor men's lacrosse as a varsity sport and will participate in the inaugural A-10 season along with Massachusetts, Richmond and Saint Joseph's.

The Atlantic 10 has also accepted men's lacrosse affiliate member applications from High Point University and Hobart College, bringing the number of conference teams to six, the minimum number the NCAA requires of a league for postseason eligibility. In the last 10 years, the six men's lacrosse programs have combined to make 10 NCAA Tournament appearances.

"Adding men's lacrosse to the portfolio of Atlantic 10 sponsored sports provides a home for our four full-time members, who have requested this for several years.  Welcoming both High Point and Hobart College as affiliate members rounds out a strong collection of teams that have been nationally competitive, playing in the NCAA postseason multiple times, with multiple national championship appearances," stated Atlantic 10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade.

UMass has sponsored men's lacrosse since 1954, and has advanced to the NCAA Tournament 19 times, including 2006 when the Minutemen were the national runners up. Richmond began its program in 2014 and has reached the NCAA Tournament four times in just eight full seasons. Like Richmond, St. Bonaventure's program is relatively new, being established as a varsity sport in 2019. Saint Joseph's program began in 1993 and has played in seven conference championship finals and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2022.

High Point University is a Division I institution located in High Point, N.C. The Panthers have sponsored men's lacrosse since 2013 and have played in the NCAA Tournament twice, including in 2021.

Hobart College is a Division III institution that participates in Division I for men's lacrosse. Located in Geneva, N.Y., the Statesmen program began in 1898 and have won 16 national championships at the Division II, Division III and USILA levels prior to ascending to Division I in 1995. Hobart has played in the NCAA Division I Tournament five times.

St. Bonaventure enjoyed its finest season to date this spring in just its fourth campaign after reviving the program in 2017 and playing its first Division I season two years later. The Bonnies spent their first four years at the Division I level playing as affiliate members of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and won the league's regular season title this year, reaching the championship game before finishing with an 11-4 record.

Head coach Randy Mearns, the 2022 MAAC Coach of the Year, has built the Bonnies program into a formidable one with impressive speed.

Mearns and his staff guided the Bonnies to the MAAC final four in each of the past two years and within a one-goal decision of the NCAA Tournament this year. The Bonnies earned major year-end awards in each of the last two years as members of the MAAC, scoring Offensive Player of the Year accolades in 2021 and 2022 from Jake Rosa and Sean Westley respectively. Senior Brett Dobson also was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year last month and became the program's first-ever Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) draft pick following the season, selected 12th overall by the Archers Lacrosse Club.

"We are thrilled to be a part of the new Atlantic 10 Men's Lacrosse Conference," Mearns said. "Joining Saint Joseph's and Richmond, recent 2022 NCAA tournament qualifiers, along with UMass, High Point and Hobart certainly presents a new set of challenges and a new journey for our young program at St. Bonaventure.  Our staff and our players are excited to get started!" 

The Bonnies also received national Top 20 votes during the past year.

In all, nine Bona players received all-conference honors this past season with nearly all expected to return for the 2023 campaign.

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