The Canisius College women's lacrosse team trailed by four goals late before rallying and earning an overtime victory against Marist on Sunday afternoon at the Demske Sports Complex, 16-15. With the win, the Griffs improve to 6-7 on the season and 1-1 in the MAAC, while the Red Foxes fall to 5-6 and 2-1 against conference foes.
"It was a great character win today," said Canisius head coach Scott Teeter. "We need to build off this and I think that this type of game is what this team needed. We now believe in ourselves and can move forward with a lot of confidence from here."
Sophomore Megan Oosting led the Griffs' rally, scoring four second-half goals. In addition to her career-best four scores, Oosting set personal highs with six ground balls and four caused turnovers.
Junior Ashley Curtis matched Oosting with four goals, while junior Taylor Gray also posted four points with a goal and three assists. Senior Marissa Brown and junior Jackie Loson added two tallies, while senior Brett Poissant, sophomore Kristy Wilensky and freshman Meghan McGunigle rounded out the scoring for Canisius with a goal apiece.
Junior Allison Daley anchored Canisius' defensive effort, posting a season-best 15 saves on the afternoon.
Marist controlled the play early in the contest, racing out to a 4-1 lead 8:38 into the game. Curtis ended the run with her second goal of the day but the Red Foxes held the Griffs off the scoreboard for the next 13:35, while adding two goals for a 6-2 lead. Gray scored with 6:14 remaining in the half but Marist added two more goals for its largest lead of the day, 8-3. Brown wrapped up the scoring in the first half as the teams headed into intermission with the Red Foxes leading, 8-4.
The two schools played an even game for the first 16 minutes of the second half before Canisius began its rally. With the Griffs trailing 11-7, Oosting started the run with her second goal of the period with 13:56 left in regulation. The sophomore added a goal with 7:03 remaining and then Poissant and Loson scored 35 seconds apart at 5:55 and 5:20, respectively, to knot the game at 11.
Canisius won the ensuing draw control and McGunigle was awarded a free-position shot. The Marist goalkeeper stopped McGunigle's shot but Oosting cleaned up the rebound and found the back of the net to give Canisius its first lead of the game with 3:21 left in regulation, 12-11.
Marist won the next draw control but a pair of saves by Daley gave the Griffs possession in the closing minutes. However, Marist forced two Canisius turnovers and Kelly Condon scored an unassisted goal with 17 seconds remaining to tie the game at 12. The Griffs had one last opportunity to earn the win in regulation but junior Carly Quinn had her shot saved as time expired.
The Griffs won the first draw control of the overtime but a Marist save led to Condon scoring on the other end to give the Red Foxes a 13-12 lead. Brown answered for the Griffs, scoring her second goal of the day on a free-position shot. Marist reclaimed its lead with 20 seconds left in the first half of the overtime but Loson scored with 2.4 ticks left off a feed from Gray to tie the game 14 after the first overtime session.
Loson won the first draw control in the second session of overtime and McGunigle scored her fourth goal of the season off a feed from Quinn to give Canisius a 15-14 lead with 2:15 remaining. Quinn won the ensuing draw control and Curtis hammered home her fourth goal of the afternoon with 1:30 left to give Canisius a two-goal advantage, 16-14.
Marist won the next draw control and scored with 54 ticks left to pull within one, 16-15. After another Red Foxes' win in the draw circle, Poissant caused a turnover. Marist was able to reclaim possession but Lauren Ciccarello was called for a charge with four seconds remaining, giving the victory to Canisius.
Canisius outshot Marist, 41-36, and held an 18-16 advantage in draw controls. Condon led the Red Foxes with eight points, five goals and three assists, while Alyssa Littin stopped 12 shots in goal.
The Griffs continue MAAC play on Friday with a game at Siena. First draw is set for 4 p.m.
Game Notes: Sunday's game can be seen on tape delay on Time Warner SportsNet ... The overtime contest was the first for the women's lacrosse team at the Demske Sports Complex ... Canisius won for just the second time in 15 all-time meetings against Marist ... The Red Foxes eliminated Canisius in each of the last two MAAC Tournaments ... Curtis now has 36 goals on the season, the fifth most in school history ... Poissant recorded six draw controls and now has 128 career draw controls, just two shy of Chelsea Martinez's school record ... Gray now has 39 career assists, passing Alana Chan for third in the program's history.
