ST. BONAVENTURE (1-5) at CANISIUS (0-6)
Tuesday, March 14 – 4:00 p.m.
Buffalo, N.Y.
TV: ESPN+

The St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team will make the short trip up Route 219 to play at rival Canisius Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. The game was moved up from an evening start time due to inclement weather in the forecast for Tuesday night.

BY THE NUMBERS
4 – The past three games between the Bonnies and Griffs have been decided by a total of four goals.
5 – Grad student Sean Westley posted a team-high five goals in last year's regular season finale victory over Canisius.
8 – Senior Jake Rosa owns eight career games of five or more points, including two this season.  
9 – The Bonnies played nine games decided by two goals or less last season, going 7-2 in those games. Bona was 5-2 in games decided by just one goal.
13 – Westley boasts 13 career points against Canisius, most of any Bonnies player.
50 – Bonnies freshman goalie Cristofero Cucciuffo ranks second among Atlantic 10 goalies with a save percentage of 50 percent this season.
55 – The Bonnies boast a faceoff winning percentage of over 55% as a team, ranking 16th nationally thus far.
190 – Mearns scored 190 career points for the Griffs as a player between 1990-92, ranking second in school history. His 95 assists are the most by any Griffs player in the history of the program.

SERIES HISTORY
The Bonnies and Griffs will meet for the fifth time as Division I foes with each side winning a pair of games. Canisius won the first two meetings, taking a game at the Marra Athletics Complex before winning the first of two games in 2021. The Bonnies, though, have won two in a row, both coming on home turf. This year's game will be the first non-conference meeting between the squads with the Bonnies moving from the MAAC to the Atlantic 10 this season, though in a twist of the 2021 pandemic scheduling, Bona's 12-11 home win that April did not count toward MAAC standings.

The series has perfectly defined a rivalry in the last several meetings as the last three games have been separated by a total of four goals. Canisius held on for an 11-9 win at home April 6, 2021, but the Bonnies answered back less than a week later for a 12-11 triumph.

Last season, the Bonnies captured the MAAC regular season championship by way of a 13-12 victory at home over Canisius in a thriller that went back-and-forth. The Bonnies led 6-2 after 30 minutes, but Canisius roared back for a 10-8 lead after three quarters. Bona battled back in the final 10 minutes, though, with Sean Westley netting the game-winning with 6:02 to play.

THE COACHING MATCHUP
St. Bonaventure head coach Randy Mearns, a Canisius alum and Canisius College Hall of Fame member, coached the Golden Griffs for 19 seasons.

Mearns ranks second in Canisius school history for career scoring (190 points) and is the program's all-time leader in assists (95).

Leading Canisius is Mark Miyashita, who played four seasons for Mearns from 2000-03 while posting 145 career points. The two also coached together in 2018 when Mearns picked Miyashita to his staff for Team Canada at the FIL World Championships in Israel as the Canadians captured the silver medal.

St. Bonaventure assistant coach Nico Capron also has a deep connection to the Little Three rivalry as he was a four-year letterman and a member of the Griffs' 2012 MAAC Championship team.

LAST YEAR'S LEADERS
While Sean Westley posted six points in last year's win over Canisius, he had plenty of help. Several returning players also notched tallies in that win as well: Anthony Cimino handed out two assists while Conor Murphy had a goal and an assist for two points. Austin Blumbergs, Kyle Pepper and Jake Emmick have a point apiece.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Bonnies freshman faceoff specialist Quinn Nolan has made an immediate impact this season, posting a faceoff winning percentage of just under 60 percent thus far. That ranks second in the Atlantic 10 and 20^th nationally.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
A look at the season stats will show two areas that jump off the page where improvement could make an immediate for the Bonnies as the non-conference schedule winds down: man-up offense and clearing.

St. Bonaventure is 1-for-17 on the man-up thus far this season, with the lone power play goal coming from Jake Rosa in the Binghamton game Feb. 18.

The Bonnies are also looking to improve on their clearing ability, currently having a success rate of around 72 percent following a 12-for-21 showing Saturday vs. Cleveland State.

ABOUT CANISIUS

• The Griffs are seeking their first win of the year after an 0-6 start. Canisius suffered a heartbreaker at Quinnipiac in the MAAC opener Saturday, 13-12, and also fell to common opponents Cleveland State (18-12) and Robert Morris (13-8) as well as Bellarmine (14-4) and current A-10 member Hobart (20-14).
• Canisius was selected seventh in the 10-team MAAC preseason poll.
• Colin Kelly leads the team with 18 goals and 21 points while Keegan Kozack (12), Kevin Carney (11) and Hunter Parucki (10) all have double-digit points this season.
• The Griffs average just under 10 goals per game, but allow 16 per contest.
• Canisius has been strong on the man-up, converting over 42% of those chances. The Griffs have struggled at the faceoff X, though, owning a 39% success rate.
• Sophomore Tommy Kunz is the starting goalie, recording a save percentage of 45% thus far with 78 saves in six games.

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