A tied game at the half, Quinnipiac scored the first four goals after the intermission and never looked back en route to a 9-7 conference victory against the Canisius College men's lacrosse team on Saturday afternoon. The loss drops the Griffs to 2-3 in MAAC play and 2-10 overall, while the Bobcats move to second place in the conference standings with a 3-2 mark and improve to 4-7 overall.

“We knew it was going to be a battle today as Quinnipiac is a very tough team and they play really hard,” said Canisius head coach Randy Mearns. “We were with them in the first half but couldn't take advantage of some opportunities in the second and bury some looks. This one stings a little as we're still trying to solve our halftime curse. As hard as it is hitting the seniors right now, we still have some life for the MAAC playoffs. We'll get back to work on Sunday and figure out how to get better for the home stretch.”

Junior Vince Gravino led the Griffs with three points and two goals on the day, while senior Sam Connors also chipped in a career-best two tallies. Seniors Tim Edwards and Jake Giarrano and junior Billy Jacobbi also added a goal in the defeat.

Senior Alex Govenettio recorded six saves on the day, while senior Adam Donner anchored the Canisius defense with a career-best five ground balls to go along with a game-high three caused turnovers.

Canisius started the contest strong, grabbing a 3-1 lead just over 21 minutes into the contest. Edwards started the scoring on the day with an unassisted goal and after a Quinnipiac tally, Jacobbi gave the Griffs a 2-1 lead after one quarter of play.

Giarrano stretched the Canisius advantage to two, 3-1, with 8:42 left in the second quarter but Quinnipiac quickly answered, scoring two goals in the next 80 seconds to draw even at three. Connors put the Griffs ahead once again with 5:52 remaining in the half only to see the Bobcats respond right away once again just 49 seconds later for the 4-4 contest after 30 minutes of play.

Quinnipiac then controlled the third quarter and never looked back en route to the key conference victory. The Bobcats scored the only three goals of the third in a 3:32 span for a 7-4 lead. The momentum spilled into early in the fourth when Quinnipiac stretched its advantage to a game-high four goals, 8-4, with 12:19 remaining in the game.

Canisius attempted to fight back and scored just 26 seconds later but neither team would find the back of the net for the next nine-plus minutes with Quinnipiac finally ending the drought and sealing the victory with 2:37 left for the 9-5 lead. Canisius added two late goals but it was not enough as the Bobcats left Buffalo with the 9-7 victory.

The Bobcats finished the game with the advantage in shots (33-22), ground balls (32-23) and faceoffs (13-7) to earn the victory. Kevin Diehl led the team with two tallies, while Jack Brust earned the victory with six saves.

Canisius now takes a two-game break from MAAC play, beginning with a non-conference game on Tuesday against Binghamton. The schools are set to meet in the Griffs' final home game at the Demske Sports Complex with first faceoff scheduled for 7 p.m.

Game Notes: Canisius honored its 11 seniors prior to the game for playing in their final home conference game – Connors, Edwards, Donner, Giarrano, Govenettio, Alex Chernosky, Kevin Collins, Cody Gould, Austin Romantic, Mac Tomkinson and Colby Wehner … The road team has won in each of the last two years between the two schools after the home team won the first five games in the series … Canisius has now been outscored 44-11 in the third quarter this season … Canisius is 1-5 this season when entering halftime tied or with the lead – the Griffs went 7-2 last season when at least tied at the intermission … At 2-3, Canisius is now a half game back of the final bid for the MAAC Tournament with only one conference game remaining.