By Tom Seipp, Sports Editor
There hasn’t been too much to celebrate about the women’s lacrosse program over the several years.
The year of 2007 is a significant one for the program, because it was the last time it finished with a record over .500.
Last season, the team finished with a record of 1-16, and its only victory came against a start-up Youngstown State program. In 2018, the program went without a win. Since 2010, the program has a 31-128 all-time record.
After Chelsea Rosiek’s underwhelming tenure of four seasons, the Bonnies have made a change at head coach.
The Bonnies have hired Jason Levesque to take over as sixth head coach in the Bonnies women’s lacrosse team’s history.
Levesque grew up in Ontario, Canada, and played collegiate lacrosse at Canisius from 2000-2004.
Levesque has an abundant amount of coaching experience throughout his career, most recently at IMG Academy in Florida. Levesque coached there from 2016 to 2019.
When St. Bonaventure hired Levesque, it took a while for both parties to make the hire official, as Levesque had to change his work visa from one employer to the other.
“Unfortunately, those things take a little longer than you’d hope,” Levesque said.
Now that Levesque’s hire is official, he is all set to help the Bonnies improve and have a successful year.
One of Levesque’s biggest challenges will be changing the culture in the locker room after a tumultuous last couple of seasons.
“It’s not going to happen overnight. The biggest thing is getting to learn how to have fun again and just enjoy playing lacrosse, enjoy one another’s company. Then we can start building towards a championship goal,” Levesque said. “Losing is no fun. It’s Division I athletics, it’s hard. It’s hard to win games.”
Levesque said he is excited for the challenge, and he’s loved being on campus thus far.
“I’m excited to be here. The biggest thing I really took from the interview process and meeting the people here was ‘Wow, these are some great people.’ From the men’s staff, to the administrators, to the athletic training staff, to the strength coaches, to the professors I’ve had a chance to meet, everybody has just been awesome and you can really get a feel for that special Bonaventure community.”
“I’m just really, really excited to be here. It’s definitely a great opportunity for myself personally and for these players right now to get this thing turned around,” Levesque added. “We’ve got great people here, I think the school is really excited about bringing the men’s program back and hopefully seeing both programs, along with every sport, be successful. It’s going to be a lot of fun, I’m anxious to get going.”
Their season begins this weekend with a pair of games in Connecticut. The team will kick off its season at Hartford on Friday and then head to Central Connecticut State on Sunday.
“We’ve only had three weeks of practice. We’re at that point where it’s good to see a different color jersey when we’re playing,” Levesque said. “I’m excited to be on the road with the team and see how that goes. It’s a great group of young ladies, they definitely make me laugh and keep me on my toes. So, It’ll be fun to spend a couple of days on the road with them away from campus. It’ll be fun.”
seipptw19@bonaventure.edu
