"After a productive preseason where we have had the opportunity to work on our playing style and team identity, we now look forward to beginning our fall 2016 season on the road this weekend," first-year head coach Neel Bhattacharjee said. "Saint Bonaventure will be a challenging opponent to start. Similar to us they have had some turnover but have some very good young talent looking to make initial impressions. It will be difficult to play a quality opponent on the road especially with many unknowns at this time of year given how early it is, but we will come in with a sense of purpose and implement our game plan in hopes of a positive result."

The Bearcats return six starters and 19 letterwinners from a 3-12-2 squad that narrowly missed an America East postseason berth. One of those wins was a 2-1 victory over visiting St. Bonaventure in the season opener. In that game, BU rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit and won it in the 70th minute on a goal by Julianne Johnston off a feed from midfielder Sierra Barr.

The teams have split eight games in the all-time series (4-4). Saint Bonaventure has won three of the last four, however, including a 3-1 win in Olean in 2014.

The Bonnies return 12 players from a team that went 6-11-2 last fall. Junior midfielder Danielle Vis is back after notching five goals and seven assists in 2015. Junior goalkeeper Beth Moore posted a 1.84 goals against average last season. Saint Bonaventure was picked to finish last in the 14-team Atlantic 10 Conference.