Canisius Holds Off Detroit Mercy, 9-8
from press release
The Canisius College men's lacrosse team won its fifth one-goal
game of the season, holding off a late Detroit rally for a 9-8
victory. The Griffs won their third-straight contest to improve to
5-6 on the season and 4-2 in MAAC play.
"At times, our offense and defense played well today," said
Canisius head coach Randy Mearns. "We needed to play more
consistent and for a full 60 minutes but we were able to survive
another comeback. We're excited and happy that we're 4-2 in
conference and we just need to keep working on our game and
improving."
Junior Adam Jones led the Griffs with four points, scoring two
goals and adding a pair of assists. Junior Tom Vivian netted a
career-best two goals, while junior Mike Rautenstrauch and
sophomore Jimmy Haney each added two points on a goal and an
assist. Sophomores Mike Allaire, Simon Giourmetakis and Brendan
O'Hagan rounded out the scoring for Canisius with a goal
apiece.
Sophomore Sean Callahan earned the victory in goal, stopping nine
shots. Senior Dan Coates also anchored the Canisius defense,
holding the MAAC's third-leading scorer, Detroit's Joel Matthews,
without a point.
"I thought Tom Vivian had a good game with his two goals," Mearns
said. "It was nice to have Tim Rowley back at faceoffs and he gave
us a boost there. I also thought that Dan Coates had a really
strong game, holding their top scorer without a point."
Vivian gave the Griffs the early lead, scoring an unassisted goal
2:42 into the contest. Allaire added to the Griffs advantage just
over two minutes later when he scored his second goal of the season
off a feed from Jones. Detroit cut its deficit in half with a goal
but O'Hagan gave the Griffs a 3-1 advantage after one, scoring with
53 ticks left in the quarter.
Detroit (2-11, 1-5 MAAC) opened the second quarter with two goals
to knot the game at three but Canisius responded with two goals of
its own. Jones forced a turnover while the Griffs were a man-up,
leading to Rautenstrauch scoring his first collegiate goal. Jones
then gave Canisius a two-goal lead when he forced another turnover
right in front of the goal and buried a shot. After Detroit pulled
back to within one, Jones redirected Rautenstrauch's shot with one
second remaining in the half as Canisius headed into intermission
with a 6-4 advantage.
The Griffs continued to play solid in the third quarter,
outscoring Detroit, 3-2, in the period to grab a 9-6 lead.
Giourmetakis, Vivian and Haney each netted a goal for Canisius as
the teams headed into the fourth with Canisius up by three.
In the fourth quarter, Detroit started a rally when Tyler Staruch
scored two goals 67 seconds apart to pull within one, 9-8. However,
the Titans were unable to score the equalizer. Callahan recorded a
save with just over two minutes remaining and Canisius forced two
Detroit turnovers to hang on for the victory.
The Titans outshot the Griffs, 37-27, which included a 13-2 edge
in the fourth quarter. Canisius held the advantage in both faceoffs
(11-8) and ground balls (37-27) to earn the victory. Matt Gregson
led the Titans with three points on a goal and two assists, while
A.J. Levell and Vince Diana combined to make 12 saves in goal.
Canisius returns to action next Wednesday, hosting Siena on Senior
Day. Game time at the Demske Sports Complex is set for 3 p.m.
Game Notes: The schools were meeting for the first time ... All
five of Canisius' wins this season have been by a goal ... The
Griffs have won more one-goal games than any other school in the
country ... Rowley won 10-of-17 faceoffs after missing four games
due to injury ... Junior Nick LoCoco did not register a point for
only the second time in 36 career games and for the first time
against a MAAC school ... Vivian is the first Griff other than
Jones to score multiple goals in a game since April 6 ... Jones
moved into 11th place in the program's record book with 119 career
points, passing former teammate Michael Blocho, who recorded 117
points from 2005 to 2008.
