The Canisius College men's lacrosse team kept its postseason hopes alive with a 9-5 win over Detroit on Senior Night in the team's regular-season finale. With the win, the Griffs even their MAAC record to 3-3 and improve to 4-7 overall, while the Titans drop to 2-9 on the season and 2-3 against MAAC foes.

With a bye in the final week of the regular season, the Griffs need either Marist to defeat Detroit or Siena to defeat Monmouth next Saturday in the final weekend of play to qualify for the 2016 MAAC Tournament.

“It was a total team effort tonight and we got a big win for our program,” said Canisius head coach Randy Mearns. “Our offense came up big when we needed them. Liam Ganzhorn was huge in net and Steven Coss won faceoffs. We were proactive in winning ground balls and efficient in clearing the ball. You put all that together and it's a recipe for winning. Our seniors have sacrificed and dedicated themselves to be successful and I couldn't be happier that they get to go out with a win on the Demske. They have been not only great representatives of our program but of Canisius College. But we aren't done yet as we are still in the hunt for a conference championship and we'll get back to work this week to try accomplish that goal.”

Senior Vince Gravino led the Canisius attack in the final home game of his career, matching his personal best with four tallies. Sophomore Connor Kearnan also chipped in four points with a hat trick and one assist, while junior Jeff Edwards recorded three points on a goal and two assists. Junior Lewis Vaccaro rounded out the scoring for Canisius with a goal in the winning effort.

Sophomore Liam Ganzhorn put together his best performance of the season when the Griffs needed it most, recording 12 saves between the pipes for a .706 save percentage.

Sophomore Steven Coss was strong at the faceoff X on the night, winning 10-of-17 draws, including 5-of-6 in the key fourth quarter.

After the schools each netted one goal in the first quarter, Detroit scored the first two of the second to claim a 3-1 lead. However, a Canisius team that had been outscored, 23-3, in the second quarter of the last five games was determined to rewrite the story on Saturday night. Gravino ended the Detroit run with two tallies to square the contest at three and Kearnan answered with an unassisted goal of his own to put the Griffs ahead at the halftime break, 4-3.

Each school again netted one goal in the third stanza and Detroit scored early in the fourth to tie the contest at five with 12:26 remaining. Canisius, however, responded by netting the game's final four goals to secure the victory. Gravino gave the Griffs the lead for good, scoring off a feed from Edwards with 10:20 left in the game to complete his hat trick. Kearnan then netted an unassisted goal with 8:31 remaining before Gravino recorded his fourth and final tally of the game for the 8-5 Canisius advantage with 5:03 left. Vaccaro finished the scoring for the night with a man-up goal with just 31 ticks remaining as the Griffs finished the regular-season with the key 9-5 victory.

The Griffs held a 33-26 advantage in shots on the night with a convincing edge on ground balls, 32-20.

Andy Hebden recorded three points to lead the Detroit attack, while Jason Weber stopped nine shots to take the loss in net.

The Griffs now must wait a week to determine their postseason fate. The Titans host Marist at 1 p.m. on ESPN3, while the Saints host Monmouth also at 1 p.m. on ESPN3 and Time Warner SportsChannel.

Game Notes: Gravino netted four goals in a game for the fourth time in his career … He also raised his career total to 97 points and is just three shy of becoming the 19th Griff with 100 career points … Coss has won more than 50 percent of his faceoffs in six of his last eight games … The Griffs allowed a season-low five goals on the night and ended a six-game run of surrendering at least 11 tallies … Canisius ended a three-game losing streak in the series and defeated the Titans for the first time in the regular season since 2010 … Before the game, the Griffs honored their 10 seniors – Gravino, Ryan Bahn, Brendan Barren, Alex Chernosky, Jimmy May, Mike Perrino, Rich Stapleton, Mac Tomkinson, Nick Tuttle and Mike Vavonese – for the playing in their final home game.