DELAND, Fla. – The St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team rolled to a 17-6 victory over Stetson Friday night in the first-ever meeting between the programs.

Junior Brooke Piper's career-high seven points and a single-game program record in draw controls (14) from Megan Schillinger led the Bonnies to their second win of 10 or more goals this season. Schillinger broke her own record for draw controls (12) set earlier this month vs. Canisius and matched at Youngstown State last weekend.

Seniors Fiona McGovern (3G-2A) and Tori Nascimento (four goals) added a combined nine points while freshman Maddie Pieloch netted her first career goal.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Bonnies (4-2) surged ahead in the second to take a 10-5 lead into the halftime break. Bona's went on to outscore the Hatters 6-1 in the third quarter, extending the lead out to 10 and salt away the win. 

Stetson (1-3) opened the scoring two minutes into the first quarter before Piper responded for the Bonnies.

Two more from the Hatters gave them a 3-1 advantage with 3:46 remaining in the opening stanza, but McGovern scored her first of the day with 1:17 on the clock to cut the deficit to one and give the Brown and White momentum going into the second.

Piper won the opening draw control of the second quarter and converted on a power play opportunity within the first minute of play after the break.

Grace Hollenbeck scored off a feed from McGovern before Nascimento got on the board to give Bona's a 5-3 advantage with 10 minutes left in the opening half.

The Hatters responded to end the 4-0 run from the Bonnies, but McGovern netted a free position shot to push the lead back to two for the Brown and White.

Another for Stetson off the stick of Kathleen Nichols made it 6-5 in favor of the Bonnies with 7:25 remaining; However, a four-goal run to end the first half gave Bona's a 10-5 lead at the intermission, and they never looked back.

Goals came from Nascimento, Piper, McGovern, and Rylee Gonzalez to end the second quarter.

Piper added three goals to her total, along with an assist to post her seventh point of the game, a career-high for the junior.

Nascimento completed a hat trick while rookies Sidney Van Tassel and Pieloch got on the score sheet for Bona's in the third.

The lone goal of the fourth quarter came off the stick of Nascimento 55 seconds into the final 15 minutes of play.

Katelyn Hicks stood tall in the cage for the Bonnies, recording six saves on 12 shots faced.

Bona's led in shots 44-16 as the Bonnies tallied their most shots in a game since 2016 vs. Delaware State (41). The Brown and White also led in shots on goal, 29-12, and draw controls, 18-8.

Piper's six goals tie for fourth in Bonnies single-game history and represent the highest goal total for a Bonnies player since McGovern also scored six times in a 2023 game vs. VCU.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH LEIGHANN STAUFFER
"The warm weather is treating us nice down here. The girls are having fun but handling business. They played for each other today, and we were so happy we were able to get some of their other teammates in. I made a deal with them that they get to push me in the pool when we get back… looks like I'm going swimming tonight!"
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies make the trip to Tampa for a Sunday game with USF at 1:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.

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