Jacksonville Beats Canisius for First MAAC Win
from press release
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A season-long goal for the JU men’s lacrosse team was to play up to its potential by the time conference play started. The Dolphins achieved its objective in putting together one of the most complete games of its campaign with a 12-8 victory over Canisius on Saturday at the Demske Sports Complex.
Nine of the Dolphins total goals came from reserves as the
substitutes moved JU to 3-5 overall and 1-0 in Metro Atlantic
Athletic Conference Play. Canisius fell to 0-5 and 0-1.
TJ Kenary tallied a season-best four goals and an assist for a
game-high five points and fellow sophomore Cameron Mann notched his
first hat trick of the season to snap JU’s three-game losing
streak and propel the Dolphins to the first conference win in
program history. JU played its inaugural 2010 season as an
independent before joining the MAAC this year.
“I’m pleased with the effort from our entire team and
happy to start conference play off strongly,” JU head coach
Matt Kerwick said. “TJ and Cam are two players we look to for
leadership and we’re looking to forward to building off this
game as we continue to face our challenging MAAC
schedule.”
Canisius’ Simon Giourmetakis scored four of the Griffins
eight goals and added an assist for a five-point afternoon in
Buffalo, N.Y. The venue will also be the site of the MAAC
Tournament in May. Five JU players registered multi-point games.
Max Gurowski continued to be an assist virtuoso, feeding John
Linnan and Kenary for goals to bring his Dolphins-leading assist
total to 14 through his first eight games.
Linnan capitalized on Gurowski’s crisp pass to score his
first goal of the season just 54 seconds in. Freshman Kyle Rebman
netted his fifth goal almost 10 minutes later to send the Dolphins
into the second quarter with a 2-0 edge.
The Dolphins led by as much as 4-1 before the Griffins rallied to
tie it at 5 with 10:31 left in the third quarter off
Giourmetakis’s third goal of the contest.
But JU closed the contest on a 7-3 run. After Giourmetakis’
equalizer, the Dolphins scored four goals in a 7:52 span to close
out the third quarter. Mann took Rebman’s feed and fired a
shot past Canisius goalie Sean Callahan for a lead the Dolphins
would not relinquish with 7:59 left in the third.
Just 1:14 later, Robert Moore collected his seventh goal on an
unassisted strike. Kenary and Mann added goals just 1:16 apart for
a 9-5 lead.
Mann scored on all three of his shots. The sophomore midfielder
played as a reserve for the first time in his collegiate career
after starting all 13 games as a freshman and the first seven games
this season.
Canisius’ Tom Vivan looked to give the Griffins some momentum
when he scored with 17 seconds left in the third. But William Vogt,
who won 13-of-23 faceoffs overall, beat William Caldiero off the
draw to set up Kenary’s strike with seven seconds left for a
10-6 lead enter the final 15 minutes.
Kenary and Jeremy Tissenbaum scored the only goals for JU in the
final quarter to provide cushion for freshman goalie Peter DeLuca,
who made 10 saves to improve his individual record to 3-5.
After playing five of its last six games on the road, the Dolphins
will return to Florida to host Detroit Mercy in a MAAC matchup on
Saturday, March 26 at D.B. Milne Field. Game time is set for 1
p.m.
