ST. BONAVENTURE (0-0) at BUCKNELL (1-0)
Friday, Feb. 6 – 3:00 p.m.
Lewisburg, Pa.
 
OPENING FACEOFF
The St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team will open the 2026 season with its second schedule alteration in as many weeks due to cold and wintry weather. A week after having its scheduled opener at VMI postponed due to a winter storm, this weekend's game has been moved up a day due to extreme cold in the forecast on Saturday. The game will now be played Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.
 
RETURNING TALENT
The Bonnies welcome back National Lacrosse League draftee Aiden MacDonell as a captain for the upcoming season. The Toronto, Ontario native was selected by the Georgia Swarm with the 26^th pick in the second round of last fall's draft and chose to return for a fifth year with the team as a graduate student. Despite his senior season being cut short due to injury, MacDonell ranks eighth all-time in the program's Division I era with 20 caused turnovers.
 
The Bonnies' highest returning point scorer is Patrick Shanahan, a junior from Bayport, N.Y. He registered 22 points (16G-6A) last season while appearing in all 16 contests. In the team's D-I era, the attacker currently ranks eighth all-time in points (46), goals (31) and groundballs (64) while ranking 10^th in assists (15). Joining him on the attack will be fellow junior Jaxon Dillon, who posted five goals and two assists in 14 appearances last year.
 
Joining MacDonell on the defensive side are redshirt junior Owen Tasse and sophomore Aaron Eberhard. Tasse appeared in all 16 games in 2025 and led the team with 16 caused turnovers, a figure which ranked eighth in the Atlantic 10. He also secured 27 groundballs last season and his 24 career caused turnovers rank sixth all-time in Bonaventure's D-I era. Eberhard caused 12 turnovers and collected 29 groundballs across 15 starts, earning him A-10 All-Rookie Team Honors.
 
The Bonnies are well-supported in goal with returning sophomore Isaac Farmer leading the charge. He started in all but one contest in his first season, making 173 total saves. The 2025 A-10 All-Rookie Team selection also currently sits third in both save percentage (49 percent) and total starts (15) while ranking second in goalkeeper wins with six.
 
Sophomore Lad Harper returns to man the faceoff dot after earning A-10 All-Rookie Team honors last season. He won 118 faceoffs and compiled a 52.4 percent success rate while appearing in 15 games. After just one season, he ranks third all-time in the Bonnies' D-1 era in both total faceoff wins and win percentage.
 
NEW FACES
The Brown and White will open the 2026 season with a brand new coaching staff headlined by head coach Brendan Storrier. Announced as the program's new leader in June of 2025, Storrier arrived in Western New York after building a Division II powerhouse at Limestone University in South Carolina. He led the Saints to four straight D-II NCAA Tournament appearances while building up an impressive 66-13 overall record.
 
Working with Storrier as assistant coaches will be Peter Collins and Lance Olson, whose additions were announced last July. Both coaches played under Storrier as student-athletes at Limestone.
 
Collins was also a part of Storrier's staff at Limestone where he worked as an offensive assistant and helped the team to a 2023 South Atlantic Conference title. More recently, he served as associate head coach and offensive coordinator for D-II Montevallo where he helped lead the program to a 2024 Peach Belt Conference regular season title with the eighth-ranked scoring offense in D-II.
 
Olson most recently served as the head coach at Emmanuel University in Georgia, where he immediately improved the team's record from 1-15 to 8-6 to earn 2025 Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year honors. He was also a defensive coordinator, goalies coach and faceoff specialist coach at Montevallo from 2022-2023 where he helped earn 22 wins in those two seasons.
 
Alongside the first-year coaching staff will be 17 student-athlete newcomers to the 2026 roster.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Bucknell leads, 1-0
The two programs have met just once with the Bison scoring a dominating victory, 21-8, at the Marra Athletics Complex one year ago. Bucknell opened the game on a 7-0 run and never looked back. Goalie Isaac Farmer made 14 saves in his first career start. Lad Harper tallied 13 faceoff wins and eight groundballs while Bonnies returners Harper and Jaxon Dillon each tallied goals on the day.
 
ABOUT BUCKNELL

• Bucknell picked up a season-opening win over Manhattan, 14-8, this past Sunday in one of the rare opening weekend games not scrapped due to winter weather on the East Coast.
• The Bison were picked to finish eighth in the conference in the Patriot League Preseason Coaches' Poll.
• Bucknell finished the 2025 season with a 5-9 record, their highest win total since the 2022 season, and went 2-6 in conference play to miss their conference tournament.
• Bucknell midfielder Peter Grandolfo was the lone Bison to be named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Team. The junior finished the 2025 season with the fourth-most goals on the team (18) and seven assists.

 
UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure remains on the road to take on Binghamton next Saturday, Feb. 14 at noon.
 
 
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