BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The St. Bonaventure men's lacrosse team battled to the very end but couldn't win their first conference tournament title, falling no Manhattan 8-7 in Saturday's championship game. They finish the season with an 11-4 record.
The Bonnies jumped out to an early lead after Aiden Macdonell scored his first goal of the season just minutes into the game for a 1-0 lead, that held for the remainder of the 1st quarter. Manhattan then scored three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead midway through the 2nd quarter. With about three minutes left, the Bonnies got back within one goal thanks to Jake Emmick. Manhattan, though, responded before the 1st half was up to take a 4-2 lead into halftime.
The 3rd quarter saw the Bonnies capitalize early with Conor Murphy once again putting the Bonnies within one, but again, Manhattan responded minutes later to take that two-goal lead back with six minutes remaining in the quarter. Following a penalty to each team, the Bonnies quickly responded after Brett Beetow scored his first goal of the season to make it a 5-4 game with about five minutes to go. Manhattan added another before time ran out to take a 6-4 lead heading into the final quarter.
Beetow, scoring his first of the season earlier in the game, scored his second of the season in the early 4th quarter to once again make it a one-goal game. Manhattan though, just like they have all game, had a response and capitalized again minutes later to go up 8-5 with less than six minutes remaining. Murphy and Beetow added two late goals to once again make it a one-goal deficit but weren't able to tie things up as their final shot went wide as time ran out.
Starting goaltender Brett Dobson made nine saves in net.
