ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team downed Long Island, 12-2, in dominating fashion on Friday afternoon at the Marra Athletics Complex, led by a strong overall defensive performance plus a hat trick from senior captain Brooke Piper.
 
The Bonnies took care of business against the defending NEC champions, allowing two or fewer goals in a single game for the first time in over a decade.
 
The Sharks, who have appeared in the past two NCAA Tournaments, entered the matchup having already beaten Atlantic 10 member George Mason to open their season earlier this week, though the preseason NEC favorites would not find that same success against SBU.
 
Senior Rylee Gonzalez opened the scoring for the hosts with back-to-back goals within the game's first six minutes. From that point on, the Brown and White never looked back, punching in six more goals before halftime.
 
Piper earned her hat trick during that stretch with an unassisted score in the first quarter followed by two goals in the second quarter, both assisted by fellow senior Megan Schillinger. The Aurora, Ontario native also paced the team with four draw controls on the day.
 
Other Bonnies scoring in the first half were senior Grace Hollenbeck, junior Kierstin Hillis and sophomore Sydney Van Tassel. Their tallies sent the game to halftime at a score of 8-0.
 
The hosts protected their shutout coming out of the break until the 11:22 mark in the third quarter when the Sharks' Selia Lyons broke the ice with a goal. The Bonnies had played 34 minutes and 38 seconds of shutout lacrosse to that point.
 
Following Lyons' score, both teams would be kept off the board for the majority of the third quarter until Hillis buried her second goal of the game on a free position shot with about three minutes to go in the period.
 
Freshman Riley Milligan then briefly caught fire, finding the back of the net with 30 seconds to go in the third quarter. She carried that momentum into the final period with a free position score in its first minute. Sophomore Maddie Pieloch added the cherry on top with just under two minutes to play, burying a goal off an assist from Gonzalez.
 
Though the Sharks would score once more with 30 seconds left in the contest, the Bonnies were already well in control and would walk off with a 12-2 victory.
 
Sophomore goalie Judy Mahoney registered her first career start between the posts, making nine saves in a full 60 minutes of action and stopping all four of Long Island's free position shots.
 
Senior captain Brit Colangelo paced the Bonnies defense with three caused turnovers, also scooping five ground balls in the contest.
 
First-year defender Brooke Owens also had a strong outing, ending the day with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Fellow defender Olivia Peeler, a junior, also caused two turnovers while scooping as many ground balls.
 
Bonaventure outshot the visitors 37-18 in a truly commanding performance on both ends of the field.
 
GAME NOTES

• St. Bonaventure's defense allowed two or fewer goals for the first time in a game since blanking Delaware State, 19-0, in March 2013.
• Seven different Bonnies scored goals in the contest: Gonzalez, Piper, Grace Hollenbeck, Van Tassel, Hillis, Milligan and Pieloch.
• Piper has now overtaken Fiona McGovern, '25 for the fifth-most career goals in program history (128), also moving into ninth place in total career points (154) after passing Mikayla Place, '16. The contest marked her second straight game with a hat trick.
• Colangelo is quickly approaching 100 career caused turnovers and has now passed Nicole Motondo, '06 for the seventh-most ground balls in program history (97).
• Milligan registered the first multi-goal performance of her career with two scores.
• The Bonnies held the Sharks to a 68.8 percent success rate on clears (11-for-16) while compiling an 88.2 percent success rate of their own (15-17).
• SBU edged LIU in draw controls, securing eight to the visitors' seven. They also won the ground ball battle by a mark of 13-10.
• Hillis, a transfer from High Point, tallied her first goals in a Bonnies uniform. 

 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH LEIGHANN STAUFFER
"We cleaned a lot of things up from our game last week and it definitely showed. I'm very proud of the team for how hard they worked and how humble they remained throughout the full 60 minutes."

"Our defense was a brick wall and our offense is definitely sharing the wealth. We're doing a lot of good things and we're looking to carry this momentum on the road next week."
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies are set to continue the season with a midweek road matchup against Binghamton on Wednesday, Feb. 18. The opening draw is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. and it will be Bona's first away game of the 2026.
 
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