LEWISBURG, Pa. – St. Bonaventure trailed by just one at intermission of Friday's men's lacrosse season-opener at Bucknell, but a scoreless second half allowed the host Bison to pull away for an 11-2 victory at Mathewson Memorial Stadium.

Bucknell pushed its early season record to 2-0 and got the scoring started early when Peter Grandolfo netted the game's first tally just over two minutes in.

The Bison pushed the score to 3-0 late in the opening stanza before John Boomer fired a rocket for Bona's first 2026 score and a 3-1 margin after 15 minutes.

Bona's defense held Bucknell off the scoreboard for the entirety of the second quarter thanks in part to several impressive saves by sophomore goalie Isaac Farmer, fresh off an Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team debut campaign last spring.

St. Bonaventure pulled within one when the Bonnies took advantage of a Bucknell penalty to score on the man-up as Jaxon Dillon and Cole Tucker worked a two-man game with Tucker's first 2026 tally making it a 3-2 score at the break.

From there, though, Bucknell's defense locked in and stifled the Bonnies attack in the final 30 minutes.

Michael Meyer gave the Bison their first goal in over 20 minutes of game time for a 4-2 score at the 8:54 mark of the third before Grandolfo scored his second of the day just under two minutes later. He completed his hat trick for a 6-2 advantage with 5:28 left in the penultimate period and the Bonnies continued to struggle to find an answer for the junior midfielder as he scored for a third time in the quarter for a 7-2 lead.

From there, the Bison never looked back.

Bucknell held a 40-30 edge in shots while Bona committed 22 turnovers to Bucknell's 20.

Lad Harper was strong at the faceoff dot, winning nine of his 15 tries on the day after his A-10 All-Rookie campaign last year.

Defensively, Owen Tasse was active all day with eight groundballs along with three caused turnovers. Cameron Viavada recorded two caused turnovers as well.

In net, Farmer turned away nine shots.

Along with Grandolfo's four goals, Sean Murray also posted four points for the Bison (1G-3A).

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH BRENDAN STORRIER
"I thought we played with effort today, especially defensively. We need to become a more disciplined team with shot placement, movement and ball security. Isaac had a good game in goal and it was great to see Lad fight hard at faceoffs. Bucknell is a talented team and very well coached; they will have a lot of big wins this season. We need to come back with a sense of urgency next week and focus on the details."

UP NEXT
The Bonnies travel across the Southern Tier to play at Binghamton next Saturday. Faceoff is scheduled for noon.

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