The Canisius College women's lacrosse team won it's fourth straight game and second straight game in MAAC play when the team defeated the Manhattan Jaspers, 10-1 on Saturday afternoon behind strong defensive play.
The win moves Canisius to .500 on the season at 5-5 and also 2-0 in conference play and the loss drops the Jaspers to 2-8 overall and 0-2 in the MAAC.
"I felt today was a total team defensive effort for us," said head coach Scott Teeter. "Not only was Kayla Scully a rock in net for us, but the whole team stepped up and held a conference opponent to just one goal. Overall our defense played tremendous and led us to a solid victory over a MAAC foe."
The Griffs held Manhattan scoreless for the first 47 minutes of the game and only allowed the Jaspers to get 18 total shots off, including only eight in the first half. Canisius also had nine caused turnovers as a team in the game, leading to 18 overall turnovers by the MAAC rival and the Griffs also limited Manhattan to just 70 percent on clear attempts (14-20).
Scully (4-3) was solid in net for the Blue and Gold making five first half saves to shut-out the Jaspers in the first half and only allowing one goal on 18 shots in the game.
Offensively the Griffs put on a strong first half performance and never looked back as the team scored seven first half goals to go into the locker room up 7-0. Six different Griffs scored first half goals, including two by senior Tori Greco. Besides Greco, Erica Evans, Caroline Ogden, Tori Quinn, Taylor Giglio and Lauren Smolensky all scored.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half, neither team would score but with 15:03 left in regulation, junior Ashley Bull put the Griffs up 8-0 with a nice goal assisted by Quinn. The Griffs would score another goal before the Jaspers would get on the board, as Smolensky found the back of the net for her second. Manhattan would finally get a tally on the board with 12:13 left, but that would be the closest the home team would come as Tori Quinn buried her second of the game with 5:53 left to seal the victory.
The Griffs are now headed into the heart of MAAC play, as the next game for the Blue and Gold will be against Marist on Wednesday, April 1 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Game Notes: The 30 shots for the Blue and Gold was the second highest total this season for the Griffs, with the highest total coming against St. Bonaventure when the team took 37...the nine saves for Scully tied a season-high for the goalie...Canisius held the Jaspers to just one goal, a season-low for a Griffs opponent this season...head coach Scott Teeter is now 2-0 as a father after the birth of his daughter last weekend.
