By: Scott Eddy, Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Communications
DULUTH, Ga. – During his four years at St. Bonaventure, Brett Dobson was a trailblazer for Bonnies men's lacrosse.
In the years following his graduation, he continues to break new ground.
Dobson was crowned the 2026 National Lacrosse League Most Valuable Player and Goaltender of the Year with the announcement of the NLL postseason awards Wednesday. The honors come at the conclusion of a history-making season for the Oshawa, Ontario native.
He set new NLL records for save percentage and goals against average by stopping 84.7 percent of shots against him on the year while his 7.86 GAA is the first goals against average by any NLL goaltender under 8.00. He helped guide the Swarm to the NLL semifinals.
"Brett had a season for the ages in our league, and certainly well deserving of both Goalie of the Year and MVP," said Swarm head coach Ed Comeau. "He's a guy that helped us be competitive every single night. I know it's very rare that any player has been able to win both. But I think based on the season he had, it was clear cut—he's both MVP and Goalie of the Year. He had a season that was just spectacular from start to finish."
With this week's award, Dobson becomes the first St. Bonaventure graduate to earn season MVP honors in any national professional sports league.
Dobson has already enjoyed a decorated professional career after finishing his Bonnies tenure in 2022. In the Premier Lacrosse League (PLL), he climbed to top of the pro field lacrosse ranks by keying back-to-back championship runs for the Utah Archers as he was crowned the PLL Championship Game MVP following victories in both 2023 and 2024. He was also a PLL All-Star in 2023 and 2024.
A first round draft pick in both the NLL and PLL, he was already in elite Bonnies territory thanks to a remarkable four-year collegiate career.
Bona's first commit as the program jumped into the Division I ranks for the 2019 season, he was MAAC Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American his senior season while leading the nation in save percentage (.665) and ranking second in the country in saves per game (16.8) as the Bonnies won 11 games including the MAAC regular season title. He was also the national leader in save percentage as a junior during the 2021 season (.599).
He continues to lead the Bonnies record book in career save percentage (.601), goals against average (10.7), starts (37) and saves (569).
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