ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. – Freshman Jake Rosa made his collegiate debut one to remember, tying a program record by scoring four times. In the end, though, it would be Saint Joseph's that would take a 15-8 victory Sunday afternoon at the ADPRO Training Center.
Playing their 2020 season-opener at the training facility of the Buffalo Bills, which was hosting its first-ever NCAA Division I lacrosse game, the Bonnies grabbed momentum early.
Less than 90 seconds into the game, Rosa spun around a Hawks defender and sped past another for a one-on-one look at the net where he beat the keeper low for the season's first goal.
Incredible effort by the freshman Jake Rosa for the first of his career �� pic.twitter.com/PImlcCPNkb
— Bonnies Men's Lacrosse (@BonniesMLAX) February 9, 2020
The Ontario native's first career goal gave the Bonnies a lead that would last for just 37 seconds as the Hawks would quickly answer on a tally by Mac McLaughlin. That goal would start a run of three straight for Saint Joseph's, which was picked second in the NEC West preseason poll.
Rosa ended that string with his second goal of the day with 2:53 left in the opening quarter. The Hawks halted Bona's thoughts of gaining momentum, though, with three more tallies before the end of the quarter to take a 6-2 lead after 15 minutes.
With 11:41 left in the opening half, Rosa had recorded a hat trick as he found the net again to cut the Bonnies within three. Two minutes later, John Killcommons lit the lamp for the first time this year to bring the Bonnies to a 6-4 margin.
Again, however, Saint Joseph's would go on a scoring run, pushing the lead to 9-4 before a Cian Collins strike just seven seconds before half sent the teams to intermission.
At the heart of the Hawks' success was dominance in the faceoff X as they won 24 of 27 faceoffs with Zach Cole.
St. Bonaventure made one more run – down 10-5, back-to-back goals from Rosa and the first of the year from Jackson Rose with a man advantage brought the Bonnies back to a 10-7 score with still over seven minutes left in the third.
The three-score margin remained until Matt Tufano gave the Hawks breathing room with five minutes left in the third, beginning another 3-0 break that took the game into the fourth quarter.
Sean Westley scored his first of the season for a 13-8 tally with 8:21 left, but it would be the final score of the day for the Brown and White.
Levi Anderson found the net four times for the Hawks, registering five points in total. Tufano, Evan Campbell and Nate Patterson all had three points apiece while Mike Adler earned the win with six saves in net.
Brett Dobson made 13 saves for the Bonnies.
GAME NOTES
- The Hawks owned a 48-34 advantage in shots.
- St. Bonaventure was successful in 18 of 20 clear attempts while Saint Joseph's was 16-for-18.
- Westley had three assists and four points while freshman Bryan Rafferty registered his first collegiate point with an assist as well.
- Bonaventure played without two of its regular starters from last year, Zack Belter and Austin Blumbergs who missed the game due to illness and injury respectively.
- Bonaventure starters – Sean Westley, Jackson Rose, Jake Rosa, Matthew DeGirolamo, Cian Collins, Ben Garcia, Nick Conklin, David Steria, Brodie Anderson, Brett Dobson.
- Conklin caused a pair of turnovers defensively and had three groundballs. Steria also had three groundballs while Ryan Burns and Andrew Hersey also had two apiece.
- Rosa matched the Bonnies program record of four goals in a game set previously by Jackson Rose last year at Manhattan.
NEXT UP
The Bonnies make the trek to Kentucky to play at Bellarmine on Saturday. Opening face-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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