Canisius Stuns Manhattan, Wins in OT
from press release
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Sophomore Adam Jones scored
as time expired in regulation and then assisted on freshman Travis
Gibbons’ overtime goal, his first collegiate score, as the
Canisius men’s lacrosse team escaped with a 12-11 victory at
Manhattan on Saturday. The win keeps Canisius’ playoff
chances alive as it improves to 4-7 on the season and 3-4 in MAAC
play.
Jones led the Griffs with five points, recording a hat trick and
registering two assists. Junior John Mineri, sophomore Nick LoCoco
and freshman Simon Giourmetakis all added three points. Minieri
matched a career high with three goals, posting his first hat trick
of the season and the third of his career. LoCoco paced the
Canisius attack with three assists, while Giourmetakis scored a
goal and matched a career high with two assists.
Junior Mike Benzinger and freshman Jimmy Haney posted two points
apiece, scoring a goal and adding an assist, while Gibbons, junior
Dan Coates and freshman Brendan O’Hagan rounded out the
scoring for Canisius with a goal each.
Senior Bryan Jack stopped 10 shots in goal to earn the victory.
Juniors Tim Rowley and Matt Barkas led the Griffs with nine and
seven ground balls, respectively. Rowley also led Canisius with 10
face-off victories, including the final two crucial draws.
The Jaspers (7-7, 3-3 MAAC) started the contest strong, scoring the
first three goals of the game. Canisius responded with a 4-0 run of
its own to take its first lead of the afternoon. Minieri sparked
the run, tallying his first goal of the day with 2:02 left in the
first period. O’Hagan then followed with a man-up goal just
28 seconds later as Canisius cut its deficit to one after the first
quarter of play.
Giourmetakis opened the scoring for the Griffs in the second
quarter, finding the back of the net 1:24 into the frame. Jones
then capped the Canisius run with his first goal of the afternoon,
giving the Griffs a 4-3 lead with 9:35 left in the half. The teams
then alternated goals the remainder of the opening half with the
Jaspers scoring the final goal as the two teams headed into
intermission knotted at six.
Manhattan tallied the first goal of the second half but was
followed by Coates’ score just 50 second later to tie the
game at seven. The Jaspers then notched the next two goals to grab
a 9-7 advantage with two minutes remaining in the third period.
Minieri completed his hat trick with 1:50 left in the third frame
and then Benzinger knotted the game at nine, connecting off a feed
from LoCoco 1:42 into the final quarter. Manhattan’s Joe
Variano scored with 8:59 left in regulation to give the Jaspers a
10-9 advantage and set up an exciting final minute of play.
The Jaspers would maintain their one-goal advantage until Jones
scored his second goal of the day with just 53 seconds left in
regulation. Manhattan’s Angelo Marrano would then win the
ensuing faceoff and tallied an unassisted goal with 30 ticks left
in the fourth quarter to give the Jaspers an 11-10 lead.
Rowley followed by winning the faceoff and after a Canisius
timeout, the Griffs’ would fire a shot wide with less than 10
seconds remaining. Canisius would back up the ball and LoCoco found
Jones, who scored as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 11 and
send it into overtime. Rowley would once again win the faceoff in
overtime and Gibbons scored off a pass from Jones 1:39 into the
extra session to give Canisius its third MAAC victory of the
season.
Manhattan outshot the Griffs, 33-27, and held a 44-42 advantage in
ground balls. The Jaspers were led by James Synowiez, who tallied
four points and three goals, while John Geagan stopped four shots
in goal.
Canisius returns to action on Tuesday with a non-conference
matchup at Hobart. Game time is slated for 8 p.m.
Game Notes: The teams were meeting for the first time since an 11-2
Griffs win in the 2008 MAAC Semifinals ... The win was the first in
the series for the road team since a Canisius victory in 2003,
ending a five-year winning streak for the home squad during the
regular season ... LoCoco passed Kevin Ross to move into seventh
place in the school’s record book with his 60th career
assist. Ross recorded 59 helpers from 2004 to 2007 ... The Griffs
have won their last two one-goal games after losing their first
three one-goal games of the season ... Canisius is now 1-1 in
overtime contests during the 2009 season.
