ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – A dominant first quarter paved the way for victory Saturday afternoon for visiting Cleveland State over the St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team, 13-6, at a snowy Marra Athletics Complex.
The Vikings (2-2) opened the game on a 5-0 run, scoring five times in the first 11 minutes of game time.
Sean Westley broke the drought with a goal from an assist by Jake Rosa to get the Bonnies on the board with 1:49 left in the quarter, but the Vikings would strike twice more in the final minute for a 7-1 blitz after 15 minutes of play.
Cleveland State extended its lead to 8-1 on a goal from Ian McKissick early in the second quarter.
From there, the game was much more even – the Bonnies began the daunting task of fighting back, scoring three unanswered including two goals from Westley and one by Conor Murphy.
By halftime, the Bonnies were within striking distance at 9-5.
Unfortunately for the hosts, though, the offense would go cold in the second half.
Cleveland State scored the only two goals of the third quarter and the Bonnies would be held off the board for 20 minutes before Patrick Carpenter finally turned the tide with his third goal of the season.
Xander Johnson immediately answered for the Vikings, though, and the Bonnies would have to settle for one lone second half tally.
Many of the stats were not indicative of the final score – the shots were even at 35-35, the teams were separated by just one turnover, although high on both sides (19-18), the Bonnies won 12 faceoffs to Cleveland State's nine and the hosts were plus-eight in groundballs.
Bona struggled with the Vikings ride, though, and was successful in just 12 of 21 clear attempts as their turnovers in large part proved much more costly than those of the visitors.
Johnson powered the offense with four goals while Gavin Held added three for a hat trick of his own.
Logan Cameron was outstanding in the net for CSU, making 15 saves.
Sean Westley tallied a hat trick with half of Bona's goals and Carpenter, Murphy and Rosa each tacked on one apiece. Cristofero Cucciuffo, the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week, made 12 saves.
Quinn Nolan produced nine faceoff wins and seven groundballs.
The Bonnies are quickly back in action, making the quick trip to Buffalo Tuesday night to take on rival Canisius at 7 p.m.
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