BY COLBY GAINES, STAFF WRITER
The St. Bonaventure’s women’s lacrosse team opened their 2022 season against Youngstown State and Akron last weekend, where they dropped both games in the double-header debut to start the season 0-2.
The Bonnies started out hot against the Penguins after a couple of tough finishes from senior midfielder Rebecca Howe and sophomore attacker Abby Hiltz but would end the first half down two to Youngstown, 8-6.
From there, it would only go downhill for the Brown and White.
YSU went on to score nearly 10 unanswered goals in the second half, with only one in rebuttal from sophomore Maddie Mazur after an assist from Hiltz in the third quarter.
In the net, junior Ashley Herrick recorded 12 saves, but it would hardly be enough, leaving the Bonnies to fall 18-7 in Friday’s match.
“[It] was a tough loss,” admitted Herrick. “We played strong in the first half but let the game slip away in the second half…A lot was learned during Friday’s game.”
Juniors Nora Anderson and Courtney Fox also recorded their first goals of the season during the second quarter.
“I think we were trying to beat them in the cutting game and looking back on it, we should have tried to attack their defense with more 1v1s,” Fox said. “In general, Youngstown is an aggressive team and instead of matching them I think we got frustrated and started to shut down as the game progressed.”
Saturday’s match against Akron was a polarizing story for St. Bonaventure, however, with their first half being the weaker..
St. Bonaventure found themselves in a three-goal deficit early in the match before sophomore Kassi Hogan found the back of the net and rekindled the Bonnies. The Zips would tally one more to the board just before sophomore Andrianna Gruttadauria responded with her first career goal to leave the Bonnies down just two at the mid-way point.
Senior Rebecca Howe put her veteran experience on display for the Bonnies in the second half, pitching in two goals near the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth. Akron’s Anjali Silverheels returned the lead though, scoring with 8:21 remaining. Not even three minutes later, Mackenzie Kirwan found the back of the net to extend the lead to two for the Zips.
With just a little over a minute remaining, sophomore Maddie Mazur brought the Bonnies back within one after netting one in off a pass from Abby Hiltz, but Akron would ultimately hold the Bonnies off, leaving them to lose 6-5—their first loss to Akron in three years (2-1).
Turnovers and ground balls would be the kryptonite for St. Bonaventure last weekend, with a considerable 40 turnovers to their opponents’ 32 along with 22 ground balls to their opponents’ 32 across the two games.
“We’re still trying to figure out what works for this team to win,” Herrick added. “One thing we must work on is the little things and putting together a good 60 minutes’ worth of play…[Pittsburgh] will be a battle.”
With a week of rest ahead of them, the Bonnies look to regain and secure their first win of the season as they travel to take on the University of Pittsburgh on Sunday.
gainesca21@bonaventure.edu
