ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team matched their best Atlantic 10 Conference record after moving to 5-2 with a 16-11 win over George Mason Wednesday afternoon at a sunny, but cold Marra Athletics Complex.
 
The team's 9-5 overall record is their best start to the season since the 2006 squad went 13-0 to begin the year, reaching a national ranking of No. 18.
 
The Bonnies saw multiple individual milestones as well as senior Fiona McGovern reached 200 career points and junior Megan Schillinger became the program's all-time leader in draw controls.
 
Schillinger now has 203 career draw controls, passing Courtney Gibbons, '06 who tallied 195 draw controls from 2003-06. The Honeoye Falls, N.Y. native has 125 draw controls this season, a single-season program best.
 
McGovern earned her third point of the day and 200^th of her career assisting on Bona's seventh goal of the contest scored by Tori Nascimento. She is just the second Bonnie in program history to reach the 200-point milestone. Bona's Hall of Famer Kelly Chevez was the first, recording 240 points (121G-119A) from 2002-2005.
 
The Bonnies (9-5, 5-2 A-10) took control of the game right away, jumping out to an 8-2 advantage in the first quarter thanks in part to a 9-1 advantage in draw controls in the opening 15 minutes.
 
Tori Nascimento, Brooke Piper, and McGovern all had five or more points in the game, while Schillinger had a season-high three points (1G-2A) and eight draw controls.
 
George Mason got on the board first, but the Bonnies offensive came alive, scoring four unanswered goals. Piper, Nascimento, McGovern, and Grace Hollenbeck combined to give the Bonnies a 4-1 lead with 5:02 remaining in the opening stanza. Piper's first goal of the game gave her 50 on the season, Bona's first 50-goal season since Molly Hastrich, '10 scored 53 in 2010 to lead the A-10.
 
The Patriots stopped the run from the Bonnies with 3:16 on the clock, but Hollenbeck, Piper, and Nascimento all notched their second goals of the game to end the first quarter and give the Brown and White a 7-2 lead.
 
Despite being outscored 5-4 in the second quarter, the Bonnies remained in firm control going into the halftime break with an 11-7 advantage.
 
Piper and Nascimento both completed hat tricks in the second quarter while McGovern scored her second of the day.
 
The Bonnies came out of the break with a 3-0 run in the opening four minutes of the half to extend the lead to 14-7.
 
Dahlia Trippel and Riley Ellis cut into the Bona advantage to end the third quarter as the Patriot defense held the Bonnies scoreless for just under 15 minutes of game action.
 
Schillinger ended the scoreless drought with a score to begin the final quarter and Nascimento tallied her fifth of the day to boost the Bonnies to a 16-11 victory.
 
Oliver Peeler was a difference maker for the Bonnies around the draw circle collecting five draw controls and two groundballs. Freshman Kylie Pfeffer, and juniors Kate Hennessey and Brit Colangelo all posted two caused turnovers as well.
 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH LEIGHANN STAUFFER
"I thought we came out really hot in the first half and more so improved in the beginning of the third. There were obviously some things we need to clean up but overall I like our consistent mentality throughout the whole game."

"[Nascimento, Piper, McGovern] have meant everything. They work in different spots. They feed off of each other. They look for each other, and you know when something's working let's just keep it rolling. I think they've done an awesome job the three of them and I think our attack is hard to stop."
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies travel to Philadelphia to take on Saint Joseph's Saturday.

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