Senior Simon Giourmetakis led a strong second-half push from the Canisius College men's lacrosse team as the Griffs earned their first victory of the 2012 season with a 13-10 win over host Albany on Saturday afternoon. Canisius, who outscored the Great Danes 9-5 after the intermission, is now 1-1 on the season.

Giourmetakis set career highs with eight points and six goals in the victory, which included four goals and one assist in a game-deciding 9-3 second-half run for Canisius. He is the first Griff to post eight points in a game since the 2008 campaign.

"It was a total team effort today," said Canisius head coach Randy Mearns. "We talked about wanting it more and our guys certainly responded to the challenge. The offense was very effective with Simon Giourmetakis and Jimmy Haney both having a good game, which was great to see. Mike Moran and Brandon Bull controlled the faceoff X and we controlled the ground ball battle. Sean Callahan was solid between the pipes our defensive midfielders and poles played with aggression and tenacity. It was just a great team win today."

Senior Jimmy Haney and freshman Tim Edwards also added four points on the afternoon to anchor a strong Canisius offense. Haney, who matched his career high with four points, netted a hat trick along with one assist, while Edwards recorded two goals and two assists in just his second collegiate game.

Senior Mike Allaire and freshman Cody Gould rounded out the scoring for Canisius with a goal each, while senior Travis Gibbons added two assists in the winning effort.

Senior Sean Callahan anchored the Canisius defense in net, recording 10 saves in the winning effort.

An early 3-0 run to end the first quarter and start the second frame gave the Great Danes (0-5) a 4-2 lead with 6:09 remaining in the opening half. Canisius responded with goals by Haney and Giourmetakis just eight seconds apart at the 3:36 and 3:28 marks of the quarter but an Albany man-up goal with 2:23 remaining gave the Great Danes a 5-4 advantage at halftime.

The Griffs came out of the intermission a much stronger team en route the victory. Canisius' Giourmetakis, Allaire and Edwards all netted goals in the opening 6:34 of the third quarter for a lead the Griffs would not relinquish. After Albany tallied one goal, Giouremetakis and Gould both scored to give Canisius a 9-6 lead.

The Great Danes would pull within one, 9-8, with 1:35 remaining in the third quarter but rookie Brandon Bull would win the ensuing faceoff and quickly feed Haney, who buried his shot just seven seconds after Albany closed the gap to extend the Canisius' lead back to multiple goals. Haney's tally ignited a game-clinching 4-0 Griff run as Canisius grew its advantage to five, 13-8, with just under five minutes remaining in the contest.

Albany would net two late goals but it proved to be too late as Canisius earned its first victory of the 2012 campaign with a 13-10 win.

Canisius held a 34-31 advantage in shots on the afternoon and won the battle at the faceoff X, 16-10. Junior Mike Moran won 8-of-14 restarts, while Bull won 7-of-11 faceoffs and led the Griffs with seven ground balls in the victory.

Joe Resetarits led the Great Danes with four points and three goals in the losing effort, while John Carroll recorded nine saves in net for Albany

Canisius returns to action next Saturday, hosting Detroit in the teams' first conference game of the season. Faceoff for the MAAC contest is slated for 1 p.m. at the Demske Sports Complex.

Game Notes: The two New York State schools were meeting for the first time in men's lacrosse ... The last Griff to record eight points in a game was Nick LoCoco against Colgate on March 2, 2008 (1g, 7a) ... The last Griff to net six goals in a game was Adam Jones against VMI on April 25, 2009 ... Canisius scored 13 goals in a game for only the second time in its last 30 contests dating back to the beginning of the 2009 season (also scored 13 against VMI on April 9, 2011) ... The last time the Griffs netted 13 goals against a non-conference opponent was in a 16-15 overtime victory at Robert Morris on April 8, 2008 ... Haney posted four points for the second time in his career (at Siena - April 15, 2009) ... Edwards and Gould both netted their first collegiate goals in their second career games ... The assist for Bull was the first point of his collegiate career.