BUFFALO –
Patrick Shanahan's buzzer-beating goal capped a furious second half comeback highlighted by a wild final 20 seconds and sent the St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team to a thrilling 7-6 win at rival Canisius Tuesday afternoon.
Offense came at a premium on an unseasonably warm day in Western New York, but things quickly changed in the final minutes.
St. Bonaventure (5-4) tied the game at 1-1 on the first goal of the day from
Conor Murphy 4:57 into the game but from there went ice cold. The Bonnies did not score again until a man-up tally from Murphy with 5:01 to play in the third.
The Griffs built a 5-1 lead before Murphy's second tally, but Bona began to chip away.
Jaxon Dillon struck for his third goal of the season with 90 seconds left in the penultimate quarter and
Cole Kucinski netted his first collegiate goal off a feed from
Anthony Cimino just two seconds before the end of the third for a 5-4 score.
With the Bonnies now firmly in control of the momentum,
John Boomer rifled the tying score into the back of the cage three minutes into the fourth.
A 5-5 tie remained until the 3:41 mark when Murphy completed his hat trick on the man-up off an assist by Dillon and the Bonnies finally had their first lead of the afternoon.
The stage was now set for a crazy finish.
As the clock ticked under 20 seconds, the Griffs worked around behind the cage and knotted the game on a turn-around score in front by Patrick Mitchell.
With things seemingly headed for overtime,
Lad Harper took the ensuing faceoff and won the groundball battle behind the midfield line, feeding a pass ahead to
Blayze Becker as the Bonnies had a numbers advantage on the attack.
Becker passed to the far side on the run, finding Shanahan in stride as he sent a rocket to the right of the Griffs goalie at the final horn.
Reigning Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week
Isaac Farmer made nine saves to post the win in net for the Bonnies.
Benny Carter put in a clutch performance in the groundball game with five on the day while
Aaron Eberhard also recorded three groundballs and a caused turnover.
GAME NOTES
- St. Bonaventure led in shots by a 34-27 margin and went 2-for-3 in extra man opportunities.
- Jordan Reed led Canisius with three goals and goalie Tommy Kunz was strong in the cage with 12 saves.
- Bona's three-game winning streak is the longest for the program since 2022 when the Bonnies finished 11-4.
- The Bonnies improved to 4-3 vs. the rival Golden Griffs since the establishment of their Division I program in 2019. Bona has captured the Western New York bragging rights in back-to-back seasons.
- Murphy registered the second hat trick of his career – the first came in a Feb. 25 win vs. Mercyhurst.
- Cimino handed out a season-best two assists.
- Tuesday's game is SBU's fourth one-goal decision this season – the Bonnies are 2-2 in those games. It is also the sixth game of Bona's nine contests to be decided by two goals or less.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH RANDY MEARNS
"All respect to Canisius, they got on us. We told the guys, just stick to the game plan and one has to fall. We continued to chip away and finally got a little momentum. I'm glad I took my heart medication before this one. It's a game of runs and fortunately for us
Lad Harper got on the ball and we got a quick 4-on-3. PJ scored with one second left; what an ending to a great back-and-forth game."
"We're just so proud of the resiliency of our guys. We're just trying to keep building on the momentum. We've had a lot of one-goal games and today we were able to be on the good side of it. The guys are going to enjoy the bus ride back and we'll get back to work tomorrow."
UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure makes its longest road trip of the season by heading to Louisville, Ky. for a Saturday battle at Bellarmine. Faceoff is slated for noon.
------Â
For the latest news on St. Bonaventure athletics, stay connected on social media. Follow the Bonnies on XÂ
@GoBonnies and get men's lacrosse updatesÂ
@BonniesMLAX. Keep up with the Bonnies on FacebookÂ
/GoBonnies and on InstagramÂ
@BonniesMLAX.
Â
