The Golden Griffins women's lacrosse team won it's seventh straight game, and tenth in a row over the Siena Saints, after dropping the MAAC foe 15-12 at the Demske Sports Complex on Wednesday morning.
The victory for Canisius improves the Blue and Gold to 8-5 overall and a perfect 5-0 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play, while the loss drops the Saints to 6-7 overall and 1-3 in conference.
"Overall I was pleased with how we battled in this game, but we still have some improvements to make overall," said head coach Scott Teeter. "It was really nice to see Meghan (Cuddy) and Taylor (Giglio) reach the 100 point milestone with the team, as both have worked tremendously hard throughout their four and two year careers with the Griffs and it has shown in their performance on the field."
Canisius was led this morning by senior Tori Quinn who had six points in the game with three goals and three assists. Along with the captain, who also recorded four ground balls, four caused turnovers and two draw controls, two freshmen for the Griffs had three goals. Erica Evans had three goals on six shots and also recorded three ground balls and Lauren Smolensky had three goals on six shots as well.
As a team the Griffs out-shot the Saints 30-25, had 14 ground balls to Siena's 10, but only had 13 draw controls compared to the visitors 15.
The Golden Griffins started the game out on fire, scoring the first nine goals of the game in the first 16 minutes of play. Six different Griffs scored in the half including the three goals by Quinn, two goals by Smolensky, an Evans goal and also a goal by Taylor Giglio, Ashley Bull and Tori Greco. The Saints scored three goals in the final 12 minutes of the half, but Canisius would counter with three of it's own to head into the half up 12-3.
The game was a tale of two-halves. With the Griffs up 12-3 heading back onto the field after the half, it seemed as though the team would roll through the Saints, but after the Griffs took at 14-3 lead with 23:40 left in the second, the Saints would go on to score eight straight goals to get back into the game and cut the Griffs lead down to just three goals.
With 1:25 left in the game, Evans scored the Griffs 15th goal to put the team up 15-11 and the Saints countered with one final goal on a free position shot to get the game within three again, but the Griffs held off for the final 50 seconds of regulation to take their fifth MAAC victory.
Freshman Rebecca VanLaeken (4-2) got the start in goal for the Griffs and made nine saves, including seven in the first half, in her fourth career victory.
The next game for Canisius will be on Saturday, April 11 when the team travels to Fairfield, Conn. to take on the Fairfield Stags at 11 a.m.
Game Notes: Two Griffs recorded their 100th career points today as senior Meghan Cuddy had two goals and three assists and junior Taylor Giglio had two goals and one assist...the nine saves by VanLaeken was the most by the freshman keeper since her 14 save performance against Louisville on Feb. 21....with the victory today, the Griffs have won 10 straight games over the Saints...head coach Scott Teeter is now 5-0 as a father.
