BY JONNY WALKER, STAFF WRITER
The St. Bonaventure University men’s lacrosse team allowed two last-minute goals Saturday at St. Joseph’s University, dropping its season opener, 12-11.
“They scored on the man up,” said Bonaventure head coach Randy Mearns. “They ran a little bit of a design play, and we were a little slow to slide to it. [St. Joseph’s] Levi Anderson … sniped a pinpoint shot, like through three guys, and that’s all she wrote.”
Bonaventure led for most of the game. Senior midfielder Zach Owens gave the Bonnies the lead for the final time with just over two minutes remaining.
“Everybody’s heart sunk,” said Mearns. “But the silver lining with it all is, you know, our game plan was effective offensively and defensively.”
The Bonnies raced out to a 7-2 halftime lead largely due to senior attacker Jackson Rose. Three of Rose’s four goals came in the game’s first half. It was the most goals Rose has scored in a game since his freshman season.
“We were in the game against a team that, in my opinion, is a top-25 team,” said Mearns. “It was good for us to kind of feel like, ‘Wow, we’re finally at that level now.’”
Mearns cited faceoffs as an area of concern for his team going forward, however.
“We didn’t possess the ball as much [in the third quarter],” said Mearns. “But that comes down to the faceoff.”
St. Joseph’s Zach Cole, a senior face-off specialist, won 20 of 26 faceoffs, according to Mearns. It allowed the home team to get back into the game.
Senior goalkeeper Brett Dobson recorded 22 saves on the day for the Bonnies, 16 in the first half alone. Mearns credited Dobson, who he believes is one of the top goalies in the nation, for keeping the team in the game.
“Brett was standing on his head and played an incredible game in the nets,” said Mearns.
Other notable performers for the Bonnies included junior attacker Jake Rosa and senior attacker Sean Westley. Rosa, the conference’s preseason player of the year, led the Bonnies with seven shots on goal, finishing two of them. Along with two assists, Wesley netted his first goal of the season.
“Jake Rosa and Shawn Wesley had the other highlight kind of games,” said Mearns. “And then there was a lot of spread around. We had seven, eight, nine different guys actually score or contribute offensively.”
The Bonnies travel to Vestal Saturday to face Binghamton. Mearns expects to see an improvement in his team’s performance.
“We have to execute and play inspiring lacrosse,” said Mearns. “If we do that, and we’re fortunate enough — the bounces go our way — we can have success.”
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
