Petty & Kittell Spark Pitt to 22-8 Win Over St. Bonaventure

Sunday, February 20

Pittsburgh, PA

12:00 PM

Pitt

3-0

St. Bonaventure

0-3

St. Bonaventure

Pitt

Petty & Kittell Spark Pitt to 22-8 Win Over St. Bonaventure

2/20/2022 2:45:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

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PITTSBURGH - Madisyn Kittell and Paige Petty combined for eight goals and three assists to lead Pitt Lacrosse to a 22-8 win over St. Bonaventure Sunday afternoon at Highmark Stadium. Kittell recorded her second career 5+ point game with four goals and two assists, while Petty posted her 21^st 5+ point effort with four goals and an assist as the Panthers moved to 3-0 in their inaugural season. Petty also extended her consecutive games with a point streak to 66.

"Today was a big day for our offense," said Head Coach Emily Boissonneault. "We've been challenging them to come together and to execute, and I think they did just that today."

Kate Elam added three goals for her second consecutive hat trick as 13 different players found the back of the net for the Panthers. Chloe Jones (2G, 1A) and Kierin Ratliff-Kailbourne (1G, 2A) also posted 3+ point games.

Pitt outshot the Bonnies, 34-22, and excelled off the draw with a 19-14 margin. Freshman Jill Fenech collected six draws, while Petty (4) and Dylana Williams (3) combined for seven.

Goalie Paulina DiFatta posted a season-high nine saves to go along with two grounds balls and a caused turnover.

St. Bonaventure jumped out to a 3-1 in the opening 4:29 of play before Pitt settled in to score the final five goals of the opening quarter and grab a 6-3. Petty scored off a nice feed from Kittell at the 7:54 mark before Kittell netted consecutive goals at 5:35 and 3:38 to give the Panthers their first lead of the day.

Elam tacked on a free position goal with 1:13 left in the quarter and assisted on a Williams goal 42 seconds later to close out the scoring in the opening quarter.

Nora Anderson opened the scoring for St. Bonaventure at the 14:10 mark of the second before the Panthers added four unanswered goals to take a 10-4 lead. Elam scored his second of the day with 13:36, Petty connected again off a pass from Chloe Jones 36 seconds later and Petty found Carlie Leach at the 8:29 mark.

Following a goal by the Bonnies with seven minutes left, Pitt ripped off four more unanswered goals to grab a 14-5 halftime lead. Petty started the run with back-to-back goals (6:16 and 5:11), while Kittell and Payton Reed polished off the half with free position goals.

St. Bonaventure came out of the half strong as Kassi Hogan and Abby Hintz registered goals to trim the deficit to 14-7. The Panthers countered with the next three goals to close out the quarter. Elam completed her hat trick with a free position goal at the 7:15 mark and improve to 7-of-7 on the season in free position attempts. Kittell found the back of the net for the fourth time with 2:02 remaining and Kailbourne added an unassisted goal with 1:15 left to push the score to 17-7 entering the final quarter of play.

The fourth quarter provided an opportunity for a number of Panthers to see some extensive playing time and the group capitalized on the opportunity. Pitt outscored the opposition 5-1 in the quarter with Ava Washington (14:17), Reilly Reed (8:47), Jenna Hendrickson (6:47), Talia Zuco (4:58) and Karina Latsko (0:30) notching their first career goals as Panthers. Latsko and Zuco also added their first career assists.

"I'm happy that we came out with the win, said Boissonneault. "A lot of people stepped up and got on the field and had an opportunity. I was excited to see them compete."

Pitt returns to action Thursday, Feb. 24 when it hosts No. 2 North Carolina at Highmark Stadium in its first Atlantic Coast Conference game. Opening draw is set for 4 p.m. with the game being broadcast nationally on the ACC Network.