St. Bonaventure

DAVIDSON, N.C. – The St. Bonaventure women's lacrosse team took care of business Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament, toppling George Washington to secure the first conference tournament win in program history. The No. 3 Bonnies beat the No. 6 Revolutionaries, 10-8, led by scoring outputs from an experienced senior class.
 
The Bonnies (11-7) got out to an early lead in the contest and led wire-to-wire, though a second half surge from the Revolutionaries (9-8) put the game into question and forced an exciting finish. Seven of SBU's 10 goals were punched in by seniors.
 
The Bonnies' biggest lead of the game stood at 7-2 in the second quarter at a point when the team had all of the momentum on its side. Senior Grace Hollenbeck was instrumental in reaching that advantage as she scored twice before halftime.
 
Other members of the senior class contributing to that advantage were Rylee Gonzalez, Megan Schillinger and Brooke Piper. Gonzalez opened the game's scoring, capitalizing on a drawn-out first possession to take the lead.
 
Schillinger turned the page a few minutes later after the Bonnies caused a turnover and chewed up more of the first quarter clock. The All-Conference Second Team selection fired on net as the shot clock ticked away and found nylon to inch the Bonnies to a two-goal lead.
 
Following a timely scoring response from the Revolutionaries, Bona's youth began to get in on the action as freshman Riley Milligan notched her first career postseason goal. Sophomore Sidney Van Tassel also registered a power play score to add to the offensive outburst.
 
Although the Bonnies sprinted to that five-goal advantage, George Washington rebelled late in the first half to get into striking distance when Maggie Pond and Parker Febo scored back-to-back goals, sending the quarterfinal matchup to halftime at a score of 7-4 in favor of the Brown and White.
 
Piper, the A-10 Midfielder of the Year, opened the second half by registering her second goal of the day on a free position attempt, but the Revolutionaries continued to claw back. Throughout the following 18 minutes of game time, GW held SBU scoreless while punching in three goals of their own. Goalkeeper Gabi Greth was a pivotal piece of that swing, making multiple saves during both live action and free position stoppages to help set her team up with just a one-goal deficit at a score of 8-7.
 
To the relief of the Bonaventure sideline, Van Tassel found the back of the net for the second time with about eight minutes to play on a free position attempt. After some strong defense deferred George Washington's attack down the stretch, Schillinger added the cherry on top with just over two minutes to go on a free position score of her own.
 
As the Revolutionaries pulled their goalie in an attempt to force clutch offensive production, the Bonnies were able to secure the final possession and watch the clock wind down to the final buzzer.
 
Sophomore goalkeeper Judy Mahoney made her first A-10 Tournament start and saved eight shots including some huge stops during the opposition's fourth quarter push for a tie.
 
A-10 Defensive Player of the Year Brit Colangelo paced the team in both caused turnovers (3) and groundballs (4), also making a massive impact on clears throughout the whole 60 minutes.
 
GAME NOTES

• With the win, the Bonnies will move on to face No. 2 VCU in Friday's A-10 Tournament semifinals. It will be the team's fifth A-10 semifinal appearance of all-time after reaching that point in 2003 (L, 16-11 vs. Temple), 2004 (L, 13-9 vs. Temple), 2006 (L, 11-9 vs. Temple) and 2007 (L, 15-9 vs. George Washington), all of which occurred when the conference only accepted its top four teams into the postseason race.
• The Bonnies went a perfect 16-for-16 on clears while the Revolutionaries went 14-for-15.
• Rylee Gonzalez led the team with three points (2G-1A).
• SBU tallied three assists while GW tallied none.
• Kate Hennessey had two caused turnovers and two groundballs in a strong defensive effort.
• St. Bonaventure won 12 draw controls to George Washington's eight, also securing 18 groundballs to the opponent's 12.
• Bona held GW's top attacker, First Team All-Conference member Grace Curry who scored 66 goals on the year, off the score sheet.

 
QUOTES FROM CAPTAIN BROOKE PIPER
"I'm just extremely proud of everybody on this team- the coaching staff, the administration, everybody. And that goes for everybody that I've played with the past four years. My class came in and changed the culture. This is our last go at it, and we said at the beginning of the year that we were going to make a deep run in the A-10 Championship. I couldn't ask for a better group of girls and I'm so proud of everybody. I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow."
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies advance to face No. 2 VCU in the A-10 Tournament semifinals Friday at 3:00 p.m. Catch all of the action on ESPN+ streaming from the campus of Davidson College.
 
 
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