RICHMOND, Va. – The St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team came up short in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament Thursday afternoon, falling to fourth-seeded Richmond on the Spiders home field, 11-8. After an early 3-0 lead for the Bonnies, the Spiders completed the come-from-behind win to advance to the semifinals and meet No. 1 seed Massachusetts Friday. 
 
Brooke Piper and Sidney Van Tassel led the way offensively as both recorded hat tricks. Sophomore goalie Katelyn Hicks made 12 saves in the contest with a .522 save percentage.
 
Piper became Bona's single-season points leader with her third goal of the day in the fourth quarter. The junior tallied 78 points on the year, passing Molly Hastrich's 2009 A-10 leading mark of 77.
 
Fiona McGovern matched Bona's single-season assists record, helping on Nascimento's second goal of the day with 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Brenna Houghton set the assists record in 2007, tallying 40 helpers on the year.
 
The fifth-seeded Bonnies (10-8) got out to a strong start, taking a 3-0 lead after the first quarter, and led for much of the game. 
 
The first eight minutes of action were a defensive struggle, but Tori Nascimento ended the scoreless drought with 6:06 on the clock.
 
Van Tassel put the Bonnies up 2-0 just over two minutes later, driving to the cage for the unassisted score.
 
Van Tassel tripled the Bona lead with 10 seconds left on the clock in the opening stanza with another unassisted goal.
 
Richmond (11-7) responded quickly in the second quarter, scoring a man-down goal to begin the scoring in the second stanza. Grace Muldoon cut the Bona lead to one just over a minute later.
 
Piper recorded her first of the day with 3:39 left on the clock before the halftime break on a power-play opportunity. The Bonnies took a 4-2 advantage into the intermission.
 
Richmond outscored the Bonnies in the third quarter 4-2 to even the score at six after three quarters of play.
 
Van Tassel completed a hat trick at the 10:49 mark in the third quarter to make it 5-3 in favor of the Bonnies. However, Richmond tallied three unanswered to take their first lead of the game, 6-5.
 
Nascimento knotted the game at six with her third goal of the game as time winded down in the third quarter.
 
Even at six going into the final 15 minutes of action, Richmond won the draw control and scored nine seconds into the last quarter.
 
Piper answered a minute later, driving straight to cage for an unassisted goal and her 67^th of the year.
 
The Spiders regained the lead quickly after, winning the preceding draw control and scoring.
 
Richmond and the Bonnies battled scoreless for the next eight minutes, before Piper scored Bona's eight goal of the day, tying the game once again.
 
After Piper's game-tying goal, Richmond was called for a green card, giving the Bonnies a minute power play. Grace Hollenbeck took a shot on goal but was turned away by Richmond goalie Abby Francioli.
 
Richmond took a 9-8 lead with three minutes to play and won the following draw control, allowing the Spiders to extend the lead to 10-8 with under a minute and half on the clock.
 
The Spiders won a third draw control in the closing minutes, taking an 11-8 lead with 35 seconds on the clock.
 
The Bonnies fall to 0-6 in Atlantic 10 Tournament games. Despite the loss, it was an historic season for the Brown and White. This season represents Bona's first 10 win season since 2006 and their first winning season since 2007.  

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