March 31, 2009
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LEWISBURG, Pa. - With the elation of Saturday's dramatic, playoff-berth-clinching win over Holy Cross still lingering, the Bison women's lacrosse team takes a two-game break from Patriot League play beginning with a Wednesday afternoon home game against St. Bonaventure. The Bison and Bonnies square off at 4 p.m. at Graham Field.
Bucknell (8-3, 4-0 Patriot League) is a win a way from their fourth nine-win season in program history. The Bison have won four of their last five games, and they are winning the close ones this season. Among its eight victories so far, four are by one goal, two have come by two goals and another by three goals.
The Bonnies come in at 4-5 overall and 0-2 in the Atlantic 10, and they too have played some close ones. St. Bonaventure is coming off a 13-12 loss to A-10 rival George Washington, and it is 1-3 in games decided by three goals or less.
These two teams last met in 2006, when St. Bonaventure improved to 7-0 with a 14-8 win in Olean, N.Y. The previous year, St. Bonaventure won 14-9 at Graham Field.
Scouting St. Bonaventure:
The Bonnies started the year 0-2, then won three in a row, and have lost three of their last four. Bucknell and St. Bonaventure have played two common opponents. Both teams earned one-goal wins over Binghamton (Bucknell 8-7, St. Bona 11-10), and Bucknell defeated Robert Morris (9-7) while the Bonnies fell to the Colonials (15-12).
St. Bonaventure has a red-hot goal-scorer in junior Molly Hastrich, who has 11 goals in her last two games and a team-high 33 on the season. Hastrich had six goals against George Washington and five in the previous outing, a 17-15 loss to Richmond. She also has six assists for a team-high 39 points.
Other top scorers include Christine Hanley (21-9-30), Danielle Drabin (18-2-20), Samantha Cavallaro (13-5-18) and Keri Vito (13-3-16).
Defensively, Jill Remick leads the Bonnies with 29 draw controls and 20 ground balls. Goalie Tori Waheibi also has 20 GBs.
Waheibi has seen most of the action in goal and has a .500 save percentage and 11.06 goals-against average. Backup Victoria Morgan has a .429 save percentage.
St. Bonaventure has outscored its opponents 114-98 on the season.
Bison Bits:
Senior Bonnie Buechel was named the Damon's Bison Athlete of the Week on Monday following her heroics in the Holy Cross win. Buechel had three goals in the victory, none bigger than her tiebreaking tally with 1:09 to play. Just before that, she came up with a steal on the defensive end to set up the winning score.
Buechel reached the 20-goal mark for the fourth straight year. She now has a team-high 22 on the season and 107 in her career. Buechel also leads teh team in ground balls with 30 and caused turnovers with 16.
Carol Donohue had a season-high six points in the Holy Cross victory. She had two goals and four assists, giving her a team-high 29 points (17G, 12A) on the year. Donohue now has 63 career assists, nine shy of Melissa Montefusco's school record.
Chelsea Peters recorded a hat trick against the Crusaders and now has 15 goals in 2009.
Michelle Milot had two goals in the win, including a big one that put the Bison up 11-10 in the second half. The goal capped Bucknell's rally from 10-7 down.
Goalie Alyssa DeLorenz was having a tough day, with one save and 11 goals against in the first 49 minutes, but she made three critical saves in a tie game in the last 11 minutes.
Bucknell won the last eight draw controls of the game against Holy Cross, including a big one by freshman Jenna Lotkowictz just after Buechel's tiebreaking goal.
At 4-0 in Patriot League play, the Bison have clinched a berth in the Patriot League Tournament. They have a half-game lead on Colgate (3-0) in the Patriot League standings. The Raiders host Lafayette on Saturday.
Next Up:
Bucknell travels to Le Moyne for a non-league affair on Sunday at 1 p.m. The following weekend, the Bison travel to Colgate in what could be a battle for first place in the Patriot League.
