PHOTO: St. Bonaventure Athletics
BY: SAM SWEATMAN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Coming off their best season since a COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign, the St. Bonaventure’s women’s lacrosse team prepares to close out the fall with a scheduled “SBU Play Day” on Saturday.
The Bonaventure-hosted event is a set tournament style of scrimmages. Four schools will be participating with the Brown and White: the University of Akron, Little 3 rival Canisius University and Kent State University.
UA and CU are familiar faces for the Bonnies. Bonaventure faced the Zips last season and the Griffins, who SBU plays every season, come to the Marra Athletics Complex for a game in February.
Junior midfielder Brooke Piper said she looks forward to seeing a longtime foe.
“I’m most looking forward to playing against Canisius,” said Piper. “There’s the Little Three rivalry and they are close to home.”
Although still the offseason, junior attack Grace Hollenback said she looks forward to the challenge of hosting opposing teams and learning more about themselves.
“We’re trying to work together as a team and learn each other’s tendencies,” said Hollenbeck. “I think these games are going to leave us on a positive note and prepare us for the spring to see if we gel together.”
Tomorrow’s event marks the program’s second “play day” this month. On Oct. 6, the Bonnies competed in a similar event at the University of Pittsburgh, which featured the Panthers’ women’s lacrosse team, along with the University of Cincinnati and Robert Morris University.
Piper said she’s seen improvement in her squad throughout the offseason.
“I think we’re going really great, from where we started in the beginning in the offseason to where we are now; we’re in a great spot,” said Piper. “We’ve really come together a lot and that’s super important…but we’re still making sure we’re as mentally prepared as we can be.”
sweatmsw22@bonaventure.edu
