The Canisius women's lacrosse team scored the game's first 10 goals and never looked back, defeating No. 3 seed Monmouth 17-5 to earn the 2016 MAAC Women's Lacrosse Championship Sunday afternoon at the Demske Sports Complex. This marks the fifth time in the last six years where the Golden Griffins have won the league's crown, and with the win, the Griffs also earn the conference's berth into the 2016 NCAA Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship, which will be held next weekend.
The 17 goals scored by Canisius on Sunday are the most in a MAAC championship game since 2009 when Fairfield beat Marist 19-9. Three Canisius players scored multiple goals in the victory, led by sophomore Erica Evans, who tallied five goals to go along with two assists en route to being named the 2016 MAAC Women's Lacrosse Championship Most Valuable Player. Freshman Jourdan Roemer scored five times as well on Sunday, including the game's first two markers just 1:40 into the contest, while senior Taylor Giglio found the back of the net four times in the winning effort. Canisius sophomore goalie Rebecca VanLaeken earned the win in net for the Blue and Gold after she made six stops in 55:51 of action. The Griffs ended the contest with a 20-13 advantage over Monmouth in shots on goal.
“I'm so proud of the effort, this group put it all together from the start here today,” Canisius head coach Scott Teeter said. “By excelling in all three areas of the field, we got off to an excellent start. We know we're a really good team when we are in the lead. You have to give Monmouth a lot of credit, they played hard to the very end, but we took control early on and never really looked back.”
Canisius went into the halftime intermission with a 10-1 lead. The Hawks (12-8) scored the first goal of the second half to make it an eight-point difference at 10-2, but the Griffs answered with the game's next three goals, capped by an unassisted tally by Evans that put the Blue and Gold up 13-2 with 20:08 left in regulation time.
Evans, the two-time MAAC Midfielder of the Year, was joined on the MAAC All-Championship Team by Giglio, Roemer, VanLaeken and senior defender Sami Franco. Franco had four ground balls and three caused turnovers in the championship game.
Canisius (13-7) will learn of its postseason destination and opponent on Sunday night when the NCAA officially announces its field of 26 teams for the 2016 Division I Women's Lacrosse Championship on its annual selection show. The selection show will be broadcast live on NCAA.org at 9 p.m.
Game Notes: Canisius is now 6-0 all-time against Monmouth… The 12-goal difference on Sunday is the largest in MAAC Championship Game history… Canisius has now scored 10-plus goals in 12-straight games… Defensively, Canisius has held 10 of its last 12 opponents to seven goals or less… Since losing three-straight games from March 16-21, the Griffs have won 11 of their last 12 outings, with the only loss coming to No. 4 Syracuse… Evans' seven points in the championship game gives her 86 for the 2016 season, which sets a new program record for points in a year.
