A dominant second quarter helped St. Bonaventure University create separation as it defeated the University of Rhode Island women’s lacrosse team 22-10 on Saturday afternoon at Meade Stadium.
Prior to the game against St. Bonaventure, Rhode Island took on the Atlantic 10 Conference’s top offense, falling 18-8 at the University of Massachusetts on March 12. First-year Sydney MacDonald scored her first career goal as a Ram; however, UMass held on for a decisive victory, securing its second consecutive A-10 win.
The opening quarter on Saturday against the Bonnies was a back-and-forth battle, with both teams trading goals in quick succession. St. Bonaventure’s third-year Brooke Piper got things started early, scoring less than a minute into the game. Fourth-year Tori Nascimento added a free-position goal two minutes later to give the Bonnies a 2-0 lead. However, Rhode Island responded rapidly with back-to-back goals from second-year Brinley Myers, who found the net twice in the span of 19 seconds to even the score at 2-2.
The Rams took their first lead of the game at the 6:12 mark when fifth-year Caitlin Dellecave scored off an assist from Myers. St. Bonaventure quickly responded, though, with Piper netting her second goal of the game to tie the match again at 3-3. Myers continued her play by scoring her third goal of the quarter to give Rhode Island a 4-3 lead with 4:18 remaining in the opening period.
St. Bonaventure closed the first quarter with a surge, scoring three unanswered goals to take a 6-4 lead into the break. The Bonnies’ dominance continued into the second quarter, where they outscored the Rams 6-1. Four of those goals came from Nascimento, who provided a key offensive spark for St. Bonaventure. By halftime, Rhode Island trailed 12-5, and the Rams found themselves in a difficult hole.
“[The] Bonnies are a great team,” URI Head Coach Jenna Slowey said. “But I do think that we can compete at least a little bit better than we showed today.”
Despite a strong start to the second half, Rhode Island was unable to make up any more ground. Myers and first-year Calli Dunn each scored to bring the score 13-7, but that was as close as the Rams would get. St. Bonaventure answered with a run of its own, outscoring Rhode Island 9-3 over the final 20 minutes to secure the 22-10 victory. Myers was the standout for the Rams, recording a season-high five goals and one assist. She notched her third hat trick of the season in the loss.
Following the loss, Slowey previewed the upcoming match against Davidson College and the rest of the conference schedule.
“Davidson is a really great team,” Slowey said. “So really everything that we’re looking for as we move through this Atlantic 10 season is focusing on ourselves a little bit more than the other team.”
Rhode Island will take a week off before traveling to Davidson for its next match on Saturday. The game is set to begin at noon and will stream on ESPN+.
