No. 5 Princeton Needs Late Run to Defeat Men's Lacrosse

Box Score The Canisius College men's lacrosse team opened the season with a strong performance against No. 5 Princeton but fell in the end by a score of 13-6. The two teams were tied at six in the third period before the nationally-ranked Tigers ended the game by scoring the final seven goals.

“We played very, very well six-on-six defense today,” said Canisius head coach Randy Mearns. “We played with a lot of grit and a lot of character. In the end, we ran out of steam and we ran out of gas. We also went up against a hot goaltender today.”

Freshman Adam Jones led the Griffs with three goals in his collegiate debut. Senior Tom Hensel (picture) added two goals, while sophomore Michael Benzinger rounded out the scoring for Canisius. Freshman Nick LoCoco paced the Griffs' attack with two assists.

Senior Chris Courteau recorded eight saves in goal in his first game with the Griffs.

“Our freshmen, Adam Jones and Nick LoCoco, played a great game this afternoon,” Mearns said. “We also had great leadership all the way around, especially from players like Tom Hensel.”

Jones wasted no time scoring his first collegiate goal. The rookie intercepted Princeton's All-American goalkeeper Alex Hewit's pass right in front of the goal and then found the back of the cage to give the Griffs the early advantage.

The Tigers (1-0) responded with a man-up goal before Hensel notched his first score of the season. Princeton would score the next two goals but the Griffs answered right back with Jones' and Hensel's second goals of the afternoon. Princeton then tallied the final three scores of the half to head into intermission with a 6-4 advantage.

Jones would tally his third goal of the afternoon and Benzinger scored with 5:49 left in the third to knot the game at six. However, the Tigers proved to be strong and scored the next seven goals. Hewit recorded 17 saves in the game and helped keep the Griffs off the scoreboard for the final 20:49 of the contest.

The Griffs opened the season with the Tigers for the third-consecutive season. Canisius, who had lost by a combined 34-15 in the first two meetings, actually outshot Princeton, 35-32, throughout the game.

“Now we know what we need to continue to work on,” Mearns said. “We will be back to work this week and we will get ready for Colgate.”

The Griffs welcome the 16th-ranked Raiders to the Demske Sports Complex for their home opener on Sunday, March 2. Game time is set for 1 p.m.

Game Notes: The Griffs have lost their last six season openers with the last three coming to a top-10 Princeton team ... Jones' three goals are the most Canisius freshman in his debut since Mark Paniccia had four goals against Butler to open the 2003 season ... February 23 marks the earliest that Canisius has ever opened a season. The Griffs began the year on Feb. 24 on three occasions.

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Players Mentioned

#20 Chris Courteau: GK; 6' 1"; Senior

#32 Tom Hensel: M; 5' 11"; Senior

#22 Adam Jones: M; 5' 10"; Freshman

#13 Nick LoCoco: A; 5' 9"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#20 Chris Courteau
: 6' 1"; Senior
: GK

#32 Tom Hensel
: 5' 11"; Senior
: M

#22 Adam Jones
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: M

#13 Nick LoCoco
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: A