The Canisius women's lacrosse team fell to Cornell this evening 15-11 in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament, finishing the season with a 13-7 record.
The Griffs completed another successful season, winning their fifth MAAC Championship in six years, while going a perfect 8-0 in MAAC play for a second consecutive season.
“We'll definitely take the experience,” said head coach Scott Teeter. “We had a lot of younger players on the field today, they, and the whole team, battled for sixty minutes. I know the score was 15-11, but to me it was a one goal game. A few empty net goals and one or two more plays that they made than we did.”
The Griffs jumped out to a 2-0 lead, getting on the board with a goal at 27:19 from sophomore Erica Evans on a pass from sophomore Lauren Smolensky, while freshman Jourdan Roemer added the second of the day for the Blue and Gold at 22:02. The Griffs maintained possession for the majority of the first 10 minutes of play, but Cornell quickly responded, scoring three goals in less than two minutes for a 3-2 lead.
Freshman Tessa Chad got the Griffs back on track, scoring twice over three minutes, with the Big Red adding a goal in between, to put the score at 4-4 with 12:54 remaining in the half.
To close out the first, Canisius and Cornell would trade two goals apiece, with Evans and Chad netting free position goals at 3:12 and 0:03 respectively. Chad led all Golden Griffin scorers with three at the half.
The Big Red would open the scoring in the second half with three tallies in the first 8:10 of play to take a 9-6 lead.
Senior Taylor Giglio would regain the momentum for the Griffs however, scoring goals at 20:49 and 15:01, closing the gap to 10-8.
Chad added her Canisius NCAA Tournament record fourth goal of the game at 14:42, to cut the deficit to 10-9.
The Big Red would go on a 5-2 run to close out the game, as the Blue and Gold attempted a comeback effort, pulling goalkeeper Rebecca VanLaeken. The Griffs would get within two goals twice down the stretch, but the attempt was not enough, with Canisius ending its season at the hands of Cornell 15-11.
VanLaeken finished the season with a record of 13-6, making a game-high six saves on the evening.
“This season was quite an accomplishment for the girls,” Teeter said. “We challenged them to get better every single day, they did that and exceeded all of our expectations.”
Four seniors, Giglio, Sami Franco, Caroline Ogden and Alexis Roskovich played in their final career game for the Golden Griffins. The foursome combined to become the winningest class in school history with 52 wins, a 28-2 MAAC Record, three MAAC Titles and three NCAA appearances.
Game Notes: Evans set a Canisius NCAA Tournament record with 5 points, on three goals and two assists… freshman Jourdan Roemer tied a Canisius freshman record for assists in a season (19, Ashley Gray 2006)… The 2016 Griffs became the first team in program history to have five players reach the forty point mark, Evans (91), Giglio (67), Roemer (44), Chad (42) and Smolensky (41)... The Griffs were a perfect 12-12 on clear attempts tonight… The team also went an impressive 4-5 on free position attempts…Evans led the team in ground balls (2) and draw controls (3)… sophomore Megan Maloney had the team's only caused turnover…The Golden Griffins finished the season with the third most wins in program history (13) and tied for the best goals-against average at 8.43… VanLaeken finished the season with the second best goals-against average in team history (8.32)… Evans broke season records in goals (72) and points (91), while being tied for the second most draw controls in a single season (81, Megan Oosting 2011)… Smolensky recorded her 23rd assist this evening, tying her for tenth most in a season... The Griffs are one of only three teams in the nation to make the NCAA Tournament five times in the last six years.
