#1 ST. BONAVENTURE (10-3, 5-1 MAAC) vs. #4 SIENA (6-8, 3-3 MAAC)
Thursday, May 5 – 4:00 p.m.
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (at Marist College)
MAAC Semifinals
TV: ESPN+

OPENING FACEOFF
Top-seeded St. Bonaventure will vie for a league title this week in the MAAC final four at Marist College. First up is a battle with Siena, a squad that scored a come-from-behind win over the Bonnies less than three weeks ago. The winner of Thursday's semifinal matchup will advance to Saturday's championship vs. the winner of the other semifinal between Marist and Manhattan. Thursday's game will stream live on ESPN+.

WHAT'S AT STAKE
St. Bonaventure or Siena will be one step closer to an NCAA Tournament berth. The winner of the MAAC Championship Game, which will air Saturday at 10 a.m. on ESPNU nationally, will advance to the NCAA Tournament next week with the league's automatic bid.

TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for the 2022 MAAC Men's Lacrosse Championship can be purchased through HomeTown Ticketing at the gate or by visiting maacsports.com.

BY THE NUMBERS
1 – St. Bonaventure scored its first MAAC regular season title in program history. The Bonnies entered the year selected fifth in the MAAC preseason coaches' poll.
1 – The Bonnies led the MAAC during the regular season in scoring offense (10.92 goals/game), scoring defense (8.92 goals allowed/game) and scoring margin (+2.0).
1 – SBU had just one loss during the conference season: at Siena three weeks ago.
2 – St. Bonaventure has played at the Division I level for just four seasons. The Bonnies have now reached the MAAC semifinals in each of the past two years, though.
8.9 – Bona's defense ranks fourth nationally in goals allowed per game, surrendering just under nine goals per contest. Only Georgetown (8.0), Jacksonville (8.7) and Vermont (8.8) rank ahead of SBU. 
9 – Nine Bonnies were named to the All-Conference teams on Wednesday, most of any team in the MAAC this season and the most in program history.
20 – St. Bonaventure has 20 four-year members of the program on its roster. Each of those players were with the Bonnies from their first practice at the Division I level in August 2018.

BONNIES RACK UP MAAC ALL-CONFERENCE ACCOLADES
For full information on Bona's haul in the MAAC All-Conference postseason awards, click here and here. 

SERIES HISTORY
St. Bonaventure and Siena have met three times previously as Division I opponents. Bona's only win over their Franciscan sister school came on home turf last year, 11-6. 

Siena shocked the Bonnies last month, snapping what was a Bona's six-game winning streak in the Capital District, 14-11 on April 16. St. Bonaventure roared out to a 9-1 lead and owned that edge until 1:25 left in the first half. Jake Rosa was forced to leave the game due to injury after scoring three times in the first half and from that point, Siena held a 13-2 advantage as they raced to victory. 

Jackson Rose scored four times and Sean Westley had three points. Austin Blumbergs, Brady Wijbrandts and Jake Emmick all tallied goals for the Bonnies as well in the first meeting of the season. For Siena, Jack Kiernan tallied a game-high seven points. Pratt Reynolds and Sean Jeffrey each had hat tricks as well.
 
The home team has won all three meetings in Bona's Division I era and the squads have never met on neutral turf. 

BONNIES VS. SAINTS
Bona's career leaders vs. Siena in three previous meetings:

Sean Westley has posted a team-best 10 career goals vs. Siena, including a program single game-record of six goals in Bona's lone win over the Saints at home last year.

Jackson Rose has tallied six goals and seven points; Austin Blumbergs five goals and six points; Brett Dobson has made 45 saves in those three games.

BONNIES IN THE POSTSEASON
St. Bonaventure is 1-1 in the MAAC Tournament all-time after making its first postseason appearance last spring. The Bonnies won a quarterfinal game at home over Detroit Mercy, 11-8, with Jake Rosa, Sean Westley and Nick Slattery each scoring two goals apiece. Zack Belter had a goal and five groundballs in the first postseason win in program history.

The Bonnies are in the semifinals for the second consecutive year, looking to take another step after falling at eventual league champion Monmouth in the semis last year, 12-5.

FIRST TO 100
Senior Sean Westley became the first player in Bonnies history to reach 100 career points, doing so on the game-winning goal vs. Monmouth April 9. In 42 career games, Westley has the program career records for goals and points, currently owning 116 points in a Bonnies uniform.

RALLY CAPS ON
The Bonnies had to rally from a two-goal deficit vs. Canisius last Saturday in the regular season finale in order to clinch the tournament's No. 1 seed. SBU withstood a 6-1 start to the second half by the Golden Griffs as Canisius raced to a 9-7 third quarter lead. Sean Westley scored four goals during the second half to take the momentum back and earned MAAC Offensive Player of the Week honors this past Monday. 

VS. THE FIELD
St. Bonaventure went 2-1 vs. the rest of the conference's final four. SBU won at Marist, 7-6, in the MAAC opener and defeated Manhattan, 15-9, at home March 26.

LOCKDOWN DEFENSE
St. Bonaventure enters this weekend ranking among the nation leaders in scoring defense, leading the MAAC at just 8.9 goals allowed per game. While much of that goes back to the amazing play of 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 10 turnovers in his six games this year, adding 12 groundballs while bringing an imposing presence defensively. Sophomore Cam Germain has started every game (13 GB, 5 CT) and junior Adam Shank has 11 starts (5 CT) while sophomore Nick Porfilio has logged crucial minutes (13 GB, 6 CT). Senior Andrew Hersey (19 GB, 7 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.

Brett Dobson's .663 save percentage, which leads the nation, would stand second in MAAC single-season history behind only Craig Gravelding's 1996 season for Marist (.689). Dobson's 537 career saves currently stand eighth in MAAC history. As a team, Bona's has a .661 save percentage, which would be best in MAAC team history with records dating to 2000. 

ABOUT SIENA
The Saints are one of the league's hottest teams as winners of their last three games to grab the last spot in the conference tournament.

Siena started their roll with a massive come-from-behind win over St. Bonaventure April 16 before winning at Holy Cross in non-conference action and securing their postseason bid with a home win over Quinnipiac last weekend, 15-10. 

Thursday's No. 1 vs. No. 4 matchup is between two teams picked fifth and last respectively in the preseason coaches' poll. Siena has defied those preseason predictions, and could easily be higher in the standings: Each of their three MAAC losses were by one goal each: at Canisius (9-8), at Marist (11-10) and vs. Manhattan (8-7). 

Freshman Pratt Reynolds was named MAAC Rookie of the Year after ranking sixth nationally among freshmen in scoring. Graduate student Jack Kiernan was named First Team Attack; Trevor Marsala Second Team Defense; Nick Pepe Second Team Short-Stick Midfield; Christopher Yanchoris Second Team goalkeeper.