TORONTO –  St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse alum Owen Tasse was selected in the first round of Thursday's National Lacrosse League Draft, going 11^th overall to the Las Vegas Desert Dogs.

Tasse becomes the fourth First Round NLL Draft pick in Bonnies program history and joins reigning league MVP Brett Dobson (Georgia, 2022) as well as Kyle Pepper (Calgary, 2025) who both were selected 11^th overall as well. Zack Belter (Buffalo, 2022) also was a first round selection (19th overall) following his St. Bonaventure career.

The Ottawa, Ontario native earned selection to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference teams last season after setting a program record with 30 caused turnovers as a senior to rank 11^th nationally in caused turnovers per game.

The defenseman started every game during the 2026 season and also ranked seventh in the conference for groundballs with 59 which was second among all non-faceoff specialists during the year.

For his career, he stands second in school history with 54 career caused turnovers and third with 97 groundballs.

Tasse will join fellow Bonnies alum Sean Westley '22, '23 who was a second round pick of Las Vegas in the 2022 NLL Draft. Westley, Bona's all-time leading scorer, has posted 43 points in three professional seasons and signed an extension with the Desert Dogs through the 2027 season earlier this summer.

For the second consecutive year, the Bonnies also had the highest draft selection of any Atlantic 10 program.

In all, the Bonnies have now registered 13 total NLL Draft selections all-time – all since 2021 when Daire Newbrough became the program's first pro draft pick, going to Calgary in the fifth round that year.

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