Senior Blair Sprouse put the Golden Griffins on the board and senior Sylvia Kowalski knotted the game-winning goal in overtime as the Blue and Gold defeated St. Francis (Pa.) 2-1 Sunday afternoon in Loretto, Pa. The win improves Canisius to 3-0-1 on the season, while the Red Flash fell to 2-2-0 with the loss.

Sprouse opened the game with an early goal just 1:59 into the first half when she nailed in a header off of a corner kick from Kowalski to put the Griffs up 1-0.

"It was a great start to the game," said Sprouse. "Sylvia shot the ball over and I saw an opportunity to score and took it."

The rest of the half went scoreless as Canisius sophomore keeper Caroline Robert made one save and St. Francis keeper Jessica Boyer made two saves to hold the score through halftime.

Canisius head coach Jim Wendling commented, "I'm happy with their effort. The girls did a great job to finish the game. We were really aggressive and attack-minded, especially in the second half, and we came away with the win. Blair's goal to start the game set the stage and we took it from there."

Despite four saves by Robert in the second half, St. Francis tied up the game in the 71^st minute of play when Red Flash's Alyssa Kersey shot in a penalty kick to make the score 1-1.

After 90 minutes of play and five shots on goal by Canisius in the second half, the Griffs remained tied with the Red Flash to start sudden-win overtime. In the 98^th minute of play, Kowalski took the lead and ended the game with an unassisted goal off of a corner kick. 

"On the first goal, Blair put away a great header off of my corner kick, and she pretty much did all the work," said Kowalski. "It felt really great to win an overtime game because it was the first time we've done it while I've been at Canisius."

Robert made five saves in the win to improve her record to 3-0-1 in 2009. Boyer was credited with eight stops as the Griffs closed out the game with an 18-11 shot advantage.

"This weekend we played much better than last weekend and we're clicking as a team," noted Kowalski. "Hopefully we continue our winning streak and our goal scoring and working hard as a team."

The Blue and Gold return to the field Friday, Sept. 11 when the team takes on Delaware State in Dover, Del. Game time is set for 7 p.m.

Game Notes: Sylvia Kowalski leads the team with four goals and three assists for 11 points ... She also leads the MAAC in points (11) and points per game (2.75)... Kowalski is tied with Niagara's Jamie Raepple in first for goals (4) and game-winning goals (2), and tied with Loyola's Kelly Thomas for first in assists (3)...  For the second straight season, the Griffs are off to the best start in school history at 3-0-1.