NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team broke a long losing streak vs. Little Three rival Niagara on Saturday afternoon, earning a 14-6 victory on the road in which Bona's led wire-to-wire. The Bonnies were pushed to the win by hat tricks from seniors Brooke Piper and Rylee Gonzalez as well as sophomore Sidney Van Tassel.
 
St. Bonaventure (3-3) set the tone early with three goals in the game's first five minutes.
 
Though the Purple Eagles (1-4) would quickly answer with a score of their own, the Bonnies kept pace with three more goals in a row, courtesy of Van Tassel, Piper and senior Grace Hollenbeck.
 
Niagara again responded to adversity by registering two more first quarter scores, but freshman Arianna West found the back of the net for her first career goal to separate the hosts' scores. West's milestone added to a high-scoring first period which ended with the Brown and White holding the advantage, 7-3.
 
The game's pace then slowed as the hosts tallied the lone goal of the second quarter with about 10 minutes to play until halftime, sending the two programs to the break at a score of 7-4.
 
Gonzalez extended the Bonnies' lead just two minutes after halftime with an unassisted score. Van Tassel completed her hat trick on the next possession to put the visitors up, 9-4, and SBU would never relinquish control the rest of the way.
 
From that point on, Bona was able to confidently close out the contest by pouring on the pressure. Early scores in the third and fourth quarters marked Niagara's final offensive production of the afternoon, but the visitors were not yet ready to pump the brakes.
 
Piper and Gonzalez helped accelerate Bonaventure toward the finish by completing their hat tricks in that stretch. Senior Megan Schillinger also found the back of the net twice to add to the offensive success.
 
Freshman Gracie Williams punched in her first career goal with about six minutes to play, marking the final score of the day and effectively closing out a victory for Bonnies, 14-6.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Judy Mahoney played the full 60 minutes in net and made seven saves to earn the victory.
 
GAME NOTES

• The Bonnies' win broke a nine-game losing streak to the Purple Eagles which stretched back to March 12, 2012. SBU won the first 10 matchups between the two programs from 2001 to 2012, but Niagara rattled off nine straight wins in the series prior to Saturday's game. SBU now holds an all-time series edge of 11-9.
• Megan Schillinger controlled 12 draws in the contest, marking her sixth career game with double-digit draw control efforts and the first occurrence this season.
• Brooke Piper's hat trick extended her streak to four straight games with three or more goals. The captain posted a major stat line with three goals and pairs of groundballs, caused turnovers and draw controls.
• The Bonnies dominated in draw controls, securing 17 to the hosts' five.
• SBU went perfect on free position shots, scoring on all three opportunities.

 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH LEIGHANN STAUFFER
"As a staff, we are very happy with how the team played today. The offense was clicking right from the very beginning and our defense continued to stay strong throughout the full 60 minutes. Everyone did their job today and we're excited to get on the flight to North Carolina!"
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies hit the road next week for matchups against Furman on Wednesday, March 4 and the Atlantic 10 opener Davidson on Saturday, March 7.
 
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