Griff Grief: Random Draw Snubs Canisius
from press releases
The Canisius College men's lacrosse team lost a three-team
random draw on Sunday morning, ending the team's season.
Canisius, Manhattan and Marist all tied for third place in the
MAAC regular season standings with the top four teams earning an
invitation to the conference tournament, meaning one of the three
schools would not be included in the championship field.
Per MAAC By-Law, the first tiebreaker is to form a mini-league
among the three tied teams and compare the records from the
mini-league. After doing this, each team has a record of 1-1
within the mini-league: Canisius defeated Manhattan and lost to
Marist; Manhattan defeated Marist and lost to Canisius; Marist
defeated Canisius and lost to Manhattan.
The next step in the tiebreaker is to compare the record of the
tied teams against the team that finished first in the standings.
If the teams are still tied, move to the team that finished second
in the standings and so on through the entire standings until one
of the tied teams gains an advantage. In this case, each of
the tied teams lost to the first and second placed teams (Siena and
Mount St. Mary's), and each of the tied teams defeated the sixth,
seventh, eighth and ninth placed teams.
The final step was to break the tie via random draw. Canisius had
its named pulled from a hat, eliminating the Griffs from postseason
play. Manhattan earned the three seed for the MAAC Championship by
virtue of its head-to-head win with the Red Foxes.
Canisius finished the 2010 campaign with a 6-7 record, including a
5-3 mark in MAAC play.
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Canisius Edges VMI in Overtime
With its season on the line and the Canisius College men's
lacrosse team down by three in the closing minutes, the Griffs
rallied by netting the final four goals, including the game-tying
score with three seconds left, to win an overtime battle at VMI,
12-11.
With the win, the Griffs wrap up the regular season with a 6-7
record and 5-3 mark in MAAC play. Canisius' win coupled with
Manhattan's loss to Siena puts the Griffs in position to earn one
of the final two invitations to the MAAC Tournament. If Marist
defeats Mount St. Mary's later in the day (7 p.m.), Canisius will
earn the four seed by virtue of its head-to-head win with the
Jaspers. If Mount St. Mary's wins, Canisius, Manhattan and Marist
will all tie for third in the conference with a 5-3 record,
resulting in a coin flip to determine the last two spots in the
tournament.
VMI scored a man-up goal with 3:10 remaining in regulation to take
a three-goal advantage, 11-8. Canisius, which needed a win to have
a chance at the postseason, started its rally when Adam Jones
scored an unassisted goal with 2:36 left. The Griffs, however, lost
the next faceoff and the Keydets killed off nearly 90 seconds
before Canisius could regain possession.
The Griffs finally gained control of the ball with just 68 seconds
remaining and down by two scores. Sophomore Brendan O'Hagan scored
with 43 ticks left off a pass from senior John Minieri to bring the
Griffs within one, 11-10.
Senior Tim Rowley won the all important faceoff and Canisius
quickly called a timeout with 34 seconds left. After missing on his
first two shots, Minieri scored with just three seconds left on the
clock off a feed from Jones to send the game into overtime.
Once in overtime, Rowley won the faceoff to himself and the Griffs
called another timeout. Junior Tom Vivian then netted an unassisted
goal 1:59 into the extra frame to give Canisius its fourth overtime
win this season.
"What heart this team has," said Canisius head coach Randy Mearns.
"Battling back late was all due to a will to win. It was great
leadership by our seniors and I am so proud of these guys. Never
say die and we certainly did not today."
Jones led the Canisius offense with five points, scoring three
goals and adding two assists. Senior Alex Caldiero and O'Hagan each
recorded a pair of scores, while Minieri and sophomore Simon
Giourmetakis each posted two points on a goal and an assist.
Vivian, senior Mike Benzinger and sophomore Jimmy Haney rounded out
the scoring for Canisius with a goal each.
Sophomore Sean Callahan earned his fourth overtime victory of the
season with eight saves in net.
Haney opened the scoring for Canisius, netting the game's first
goal 1:13 into the contest off a feed from Giormetakis. VMI
answered with two-straight goals to take its first lead of the day,
2-1.
The remainder of the half was all Canisius as the Griffs outscored
the Keydets 4-0 the rest of the way. Benzinger sparked the Canisius
run, tallying an unassisted score with 2:22 left in the first
quarter. Caldiero gave the Griffs the lead 6:50 into the second and
Jones followed with his first of the afternoon 66 seconds later.
The junior added his second goal with 4:05 left in the half as
Canisius entered the intermission with a 5-2 advantage.
Giourmetakis scored a man-up goal to start the third quarter,
stretching the Griffs lead to four, 6-2. After a VMI score,
Caldiero netted a goal for the 7-3 advantage. However, the Keydets
scored the last three goals of the quarter as the teams headed into
the fourth with Canisius leading, 7-6.
The Keydets (2-13, 0-8 MAAC) picked up in the fourth quarter right
were they left off in the third. VMI netted the first four goals of
the frame, the final one coming with an extra-man advantage with
just 4:27 remaining. O'Hagan cut the Griffs' deficit to two with
3:53 left, ending a 19:45 scoreless drought for Canisius. The
Keydets then added its second extra-man goal to take the 11-8
advantage, setting up Canisius' improbable comeback.
VMI held a slight advantage in shots, 40-38, and also won the
ground ball (31-23) and faceoff battle (16-11). Colin Bosse and Tim
Moran led the Keydets with four points each, while Sean McCoy
recorded 12 saves in net.
Canisius now must wait to learn its postseason fate. The MAAC
Tournament starts next Friday on the campus of Marist.
Game Notes: Canisius defeated Manhattan during the regular season,
12-11 in overtime, and lost to Marist, 9-6, while Manhattan
defeated Marist, 10-6 ... All six of Canisius' wins this season
have been by one goal ... The Griffs are the only school in the
country to win four overtime games this season ... Overall,
Canisius has won its last five overtime games dating back to last
season ... The Griffs have played four overtime games this season,
topping the previous school record of three (2008) ... Jones is now
tied for sixth in the program's history with 96 career goals,
matching Ryan Ferraro (1996-99) and passing current head coach and
former Canisius standout Randy Mearns (1990-92).
*****
