Senior Ashley Gray scored two goals to set the Canisius women's lacrosse record in career goals but it wasn't enough to top Fairfield on Friday as the host Stags won, 18-7. With the victory, Fairfield clinches the top seed for the MAAC Tournament and improves to 13-2 on the season and 5-0 in MAAC play. The loss was the first for the Griffs in conference play as the team drops to 8-8 overall and 4-1 in the MAAC.
Gray has now amassed 139 goals during her career, breaking a tie with former teammate Whitney Card, who tallied 137 scores from 2005 to 2008. The senior has also added 54 assists during her career for 193 points, just seven shy of the program's standard.
Junior Marissa Brown led the Griffs with three points on two goals and an assist and added a game-high three caused turnovers. Junior Brett Poissant, sophomore Ashley Curtis and freshman Megan Oosting each added a goal for Canisius.
Sophomore Allison Daley recorded 11 saves in goal.
The Stags opened the game very quickly, scoring five goals in the first 3:33. The Canisius defense clamped down after that and held Fairfield scoreless for nearly 12 minutes but the offense could only muster one goal during that span. The Stags would head into intermission with a 9-3 advantage.
Fairfield continued its strong play during the second half. The Stags scored the first four goals of the stanza to grab a 13-3 lead before the Griffs answered back with three-straight goals. However, Fairfield would notch five of the final six goals of the game to snap the Griffs' three-game winning streak.
“It is tough to beat a team when you fail to show up early,” said Canisius head coach Scott Teeter. “When you fall behind by that much, it is hard to beat any team, especially a good team like Fairfield. On a positive note, it was good to see Ashley set the school's goal record.”
The Stags held a slight advantage in shots (33-30), ground balls (24-22) and draw controls (14-13). Rebecca White led Fairfield with four goals, while Lauren Chatnik recorded 15 saves in net to earn the victory.
Canisius remains on the road for its regular-season finale against Marist on Sunday. The Griffs will clinch the two seed for the MAAC Championship with a victory. Game time is slated for 1 p.m.
Game Notes: Brown's three points matched a season high ... Brianne Laffey returned to the lineup after missing the last nine games due to injury ... Fairfield has now won 9-of-12 games in the series.
