Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
St. Bonaventure
Offense Shines as Bucknell Women's Lacrosse Outscores St. Bonaventure, 21-16
4/1/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
April 1, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - It was a great day for the offenses and a day the two defenses would like to forget, as Bucknell received six-point games from Bonnie Buechel (South Orange, N.J./Columbia), Carol Donohue (West Babylon, N.Y./West Babylon) and Chelsea Peters (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) en route to a wild 21-16 win over visiting St. Bonaventure on Wednesday afternoon.
Any thoughts that the cold, soaking rain would slow down the pace quickly went out the window, as the two teams played at a goal-a-minute pace throughout most of the first half. The 37 total goals were tied for the most ever in a Bucknell game, and it was the most ever in a game on the Bucknell campus.
When the dust settled, the Bison had their fifth win in their last six games, and Bucknell (9-3) reached the nine-win plateau for the fourth time in school history and for the first time since 1998. St. Bonaventure fell to 4-6.
Buechel and Donohue both logged five goals and an assist, tying their personal bests for goals in a game. Peters, a junior, registered her first six-point game since her freshman year with four goals and two assists. Julia Braun (Tomkins Cove, N.Y./North Rockland) pitched in three goals and two assists, Michelle Milot (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) had two goals and an assist, and Ryan Gribbon (Alexandria, Va./St. Stephen's & St. Agnes) had one goal and one assist.
St. Bonaventure's Christine Hanley had a magnificent game in a losing effort, finishing with six goals and an assist. Emily Kane had three goals and two assists and Danielle Drabin scored three times for the Bonnies.
Bucknell's start was as miserable as the weather. St. Bonaventure scored in the opening minute of the game and led 5-1 after only 5:24 of action. But Milot got the Bison offense going as she had a hand in three straight goals in just over three minutes. Milot scored on a hard lefthanded shot just 27 seconds after Drabin had given the Bonnies the 5-1 lead. Milot then assisted on Braun's goal and scored another one of her own to bring Bucknell within 5-4. Donohue tied it at 19:59, and Gribbon scored on a free-position shot to give the Bison their first lead of the day.
St. Bonaventure jumped right back in front when the fleet-footed Hanley made two long scoring runs right through the defense just 20 seconds apart. Bucknell got two right back to go up 8-7, but Ashley Fischer scored her first of the year for the Bonnies to make it 8-8 just 16:42 into the game.
Bucknell took the lead for good with 10:25 left in the half, when Buechel ran by a defender and scored to make it 9-8. Just 32 seconds later, Donohue split a double team and scored to give the Bison their first multi-goal lead of the day.
In the final minute of the half, St. Bonaventure goalie Tori Waheibi made a rare save on Buechel on a free-position attempt, but even that wasn't enough as Buechel grabbed her own rebound and flipped it in while falling to the turf, giving the Bison a 12-10 lead at the break.
In the first half Bucknell scored on 12 of 23 shots, while St. Bonaventure scored on 10 of 13. The longest stretch of play without seeing a goal scored was 3:41, and that came in the final 10 minutes of the half.
In a game where the team winning the draw was scoring most of the time, Bucknell excelled in that area, claiming 26 of the 38 draws in the game. Among them were the first two of the second half, and that allowed the Bison to open up some breathing room. Buechel passed to Peters for a goal 1:52 into the half, then Buechel herself scored coming around from behind the cage 54 seconds later to make it 14-10.
Scores from Donohue and Peters 39 seconds apart later in the half put Bucknell up 17-11, and the Bison led by as many as seven goals on two occasions. Buechel's fifth of the day, off a nice feed from Peters, gave the Orange & Blue a 21-14 lead with 6:26 left.
Bucknell finished with a 42-28 shot advantage and led 18-16 in ground balls. Alyssa DeLorenz (Garland, Texas/Plano East) finished with nine saves, seven coming in the second half, while the tandem of Waheibi (11) and Victoria Morgan (3) combined for 14 for St. Bonaventure.
Bucknell had four players with five or more draw controls in the game. Donohue and Buechel had six each, while Braun and Milot had five apiece. Buechel also had four caused turnovers, while Braun and DeLorenz led the way with four ground balls apiece.
The Bison fell just two goals shy of the single-game scoring record of 23 goals, set in a win over Denver in 2004. The 21 tallies were tied for third-most in a game in program history.
The only other time Bucknell played in a game in which 37 goals were scored was in a 30-7 loss at Loyola (Md.) on Apr. 7, 1986.
Bucknell has another non-conference game on Sunday, when it visits Le Moyne at 1 p.m.
