By: Scott Eddy, Assistant Athletics Director for Athletics Communications
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Six home games highlight the 2022 St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse schedule as announced by head coach Randy Mearns.
The Bonnies bring high hopes into the new campaign, their fourth at the Division I level. St. Bonaventure had a breakthrough 2021, finishing the year at 5-5 overall while reaching the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) semifinals before falling at eventual MAAC champion Monmouth in the conference final four.
"It's great to see the growth and development of our young program over the first three years and we are excited to get our fourth season underway," Mearns said. "We have eight non-conference games, including four new opponents.  It will certainly be challenging week to week but will prepare us for our rigorous MAAC conference schedule."
St. Bonaventure opens the year with a pair of February road games – their first non-conference contests since 2020. Last season, the Bonnies, and the rest of the MAAC, played a conference-only slate.
The new season kicks off Saturday, Feb. 12 with a trip to Philadelphia to play Saint Joseph's. A power in the NEC, the Hawks went 9-4 last year including a perfect 8-0 conference mark under head coach Taylor Wray, Mearns' comrade on the Team Canada national coaching staff.
The following Saturday (Feb. 19) will see the Bonnies head east down I-86 for a date at Binghamton, which went 5-4 in the America East last year, in the first-ever meeting between the programs.
Bona's debuts at the Marra Athletics Complex Tuesday, Feb. 22 with a noon matinee against Bellarmine. The Knights, members of the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN), have met the Bonnies once before, hosting SBU during a 2020 victory, and will make their first visit to Western New York.
Spring Break will bring a pair of road games at Virginia Military Institute (Feb. 26) and Richmond (March 1), the first time the Bonnies will duel both Southern Conference opponents. Richmond, which has appeared in two of the last three NCAA Tournaments and is the SoCon defending regular season champion, ranked No. 28 in last year's final RPI rankings.
Non-conference play winds down with back-to-back home games vs. Hampton (March 5), another new opponent for 2022, and Cleveland State (March 11) with the CSU game standing as the first of a unique home-and-home weekend series with the Vikings, new members of the ASUN. Bona's travels to Cleveland March 13 to complete the Friday/Sunday weekend doubleheader. The Bonnies and Vikings have not met since Bona's inaugural season of 2019 when Cleveland State won on home turf.
In MAAC play, the Bonnies will host Manhattan (March 26), Monmouth (April 9) and Canisius (April 30) while traveling to Marist (March 19), Siena (April 16) and Quinnipiac (April 23).
The conference semifinals are slated for May 5 and the MAAC Championship will be held Saturday, May 7.
St. Bonaventure returns 21 seniors on its 2022 roster. The Bonnies welcome back MAAC Offensive Player of the Year, junior Jake Rosa (17 goals, 22 assists, 39 points) along with First Team midfielder, senior Austin Blumbergs (15 goals, 18 points). In the cage, Second Team All-Conference goalkeeper Brett Dobson is back after leading the nation last year in save percentage (.599) and ranking fifth in goals against average (9.1 GAA) as well as seventh in saves per game (13.6). Fellow senior Zack Belter also earned Second Team All-MAAC honors on defense (two goals, 23 groundballs, 14 caused turnovers).
The Bonnies return their 12 top scorers from last season. Senior Sean Westley tied for the lead in MAAC in goals (23) a season ago. Redshirt sophomore Mark Belles (9 goals, 7 assists, 16 points), and seniors Brett Beetow (7 goals, 6 assists, 13 points) and Zach Owens (8 goals, 3 assists, 11 points) all scored double-figure points in last season's 10-game schedule.
The Bonnies' strength last year came on the defensive end where they ranked top-five nationally in goals allowed per game during the regular season and also 11th in penalty kill, successfully killing off over 73 percent of man-down situations.
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