ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Visiting Le Moyne grabbed an early lead and was able to hold off multiple rally attempts from the St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team as the Dolphins captured a 7-6 victory on a sunny and unseasonably warm Saturday at the Marra Athletics Complex.

On the stat sheet, the Bonnies held control in almost every area.

St. Bonaventure outshot Le Moyne by a 44-24 margin, finished with seven fewer turnovers than the Dolphins (17-10) and were successful in 18 of 20 clear attempts to Le Moyne's 17-23. The Bonnies also won 10 of 16 tries at the faceoff dot.

But many of Bona's shot attempts were either off line or into the grasp of Dolphins goalie Lucas Winger who made 15 saves to turn away the Bonnies.

Le Moyne (1-4) scored the game's first two goals and held the Bonnies off the board for the opening 14:53 before Patrick Shanahan scored his first of two on the day with seven ticks left on the first quarter clock.

The Dolphins then went on a 3-0 run, however, taking a 5-1 lead midway into the third before the Bonnies ended the drought on a strike from Chris Lawrence.

Thomas Berry's goal put the visitors back in front by four with 7:59 left in the third before the Bonnies started to rally late in the penultimate period.

The Bonnies (2-3) ran off three consecutive goals from Shanahan, Lawrence and Cole Kucinski to get within 6-5 and still 12:38 remaining.

Bona won the ensuing faceoff and had a chance to tie, but a shot from John Boomer was turned away. On their next possession, a Bonnies turnover ended the try to finally get the score even.

Connor Vaughn gave the Dolphins breathing room with what turned out to be the game-winning goal with 8:19 to go.

Kucinski found the back of the net with 38 seconds to play for one last Bona gasp, but the Dolphins won the next faceoff and were able to run out the clock.

Owen Tasse was strong again defensively for the Bonnies, causing five turnovers with four groundballs. Aiden MacDonell also posted two caused turnovers and two groundballs.

Lad Harper, a game removed from a record-setting day in faceoffs for the program, won eight of 14 tries with five groundballs.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH BRENDAN STORRIER
"I'm glad we were able to fight back today. Our play on defense and facing off allowed us a chance in the fourth quarter. The biggest difference today was one team needed to win and one team wanted to win. Needing something is a lot more powerful than wanting something. As a program we need to focus on the small details. When we are able to do that consistently we will have sustained success." 

UP NEXT
The Bonnies travel to Mercyhurst to play on Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Erie, Pa.

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