SMITHFIELD, R.I. – St. Bonaventure led wire-to-wire and held off a rally effort from Rhode Island to score an Atlantic 10 women's lacrosse victory on the road, 12-8, Saturday afternoon in the Ocean State.

Senior Brooke Piper, just days removed from setting the Bona's career goals record earlier in the week, registered her 11^th hat trick of the season with a team-high three goals to power the Bona attack. Fellow senior Megan Schillinger along with sophomore Sidney Van Tassel also netted two goals each. First-year players Gracie Williams and Brooke Sumner also found the back of the net for two goals apiece.

The Bonnies (7-5, 3-1 A-10) started fast, taking a quick 2-0 lead following goals from Piper and Kierstin Hillis.

Rhode Island answered with a free position goal to cut the deficit in half, but the Bonnies responded with three more goals from Schillinger, Sumner and Van Tassel with a well-balanced attack for a 5-1 advantage after 15 minutes.

From there, the offenses went quiet thanks to several saves in net by Bona goalkeeper Judy Mahoney and counterpart Casey Phelps in net for the Rams.

Bona's defense kept the Rams off the board for 20 minutes of gametime before Ashlyn Carpenter ended the drought for the hosts with a score to cut the Bona edge to 5-2 with 3:07 before halftime. Caralie Basuel added another Rams tally off the free position opportunity with 32 seconds left before halftime, but the Bonnies quickly answered on the second of the day by Piper just two seconds before the horn to extend the lead back to three.

Rhody (4-7, 1-3) closed to within 6-4 with the first goal of the second half, but Brit Colangelo connected with Williams for the score and a 7-4 margin at the 11:48 mark.

The squads traded goals through the third and into the fourth with the Rams getting back within just one, 8-7, and still 12:17 to play following Kyndall Jackson's unassisted goal.

For nearly six minutes, that single goal difference remained until Hillis and Williams worked together for a bit of Bonnies breathing room.

That started a 4-0 run for the Bonnies to put the game out of reach as the Rams did not end their drought until there was just 1:36 left to go as the visitors put the game on ice.

Rhode Island held a 27-23 edge in shots and both teams finished with 10 turnovers.

Piper led the Bonnies with six draw controls while Colangelo recorded two caused turnovers.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH LEIGHANN STAUFFER
"Our team fought through a lot of adversity today and I am very proud of them for that. We have played 10 games in five weeks and that is a lot on their bodies so going into next week we're focusing on recovery and continuing to focus on our game heading into Richmond."

UP NEXT
The Bonnies will travel to Richmond to take on the A-10 favorite Spiders next Saturday at 11 a.m.

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