By Ryan Patota, Sports Reporter
Canisius men’s lacrosse earned their first victory of the season in a 10–8 win over Sacred Heart on Saturday, their first MAAC contest of the season.
The Griffs went into halftime trailing 5–2 to the Pioneers, with three goals being the largest deficit of the game for Canisius. After outscoring Sacred Heart 2–1 in the third quarter, the floodgates opened for the Griffs in the fourth. Canisius scored five unanswered goals in five minutes to erase a 7–5 deficit, leading to an eventual 10–8 win over Sacred Heart.
Senior midfielder Patrick Mitchell, who scored two goals during the five-goal run, earned a hat trick, as did senior TJ Buono.
Junior faceoff specialist Micah Hanson went 15/21 from the circle, breaking the program’s record for career faceoff wins with his 452nd win. Hanson is more focused, though, on his team's performance. “It’s great to have the record, but the job is not close to being finished yet. We still have a lot of work to do for the rest of the way,” Hanson explained. He was named MAAC Face-Off Specialist of the Week on Monday, and sits second in the MAAC in ground balls picked up, averaging 6.25 per game.
Graduate student defenseman Jeff Douglas also earned an award this past week, receiving Co-Defensive Player of the Week for his three caused turnovers on Saturday. He leads the team with seven caused turnovers this season.
The Griffs would have a quick turnaround on Tuesday, taking on Little Three rival St. Bonaventure in their final non-conference game. After taking a 5–1 lead midway through the third quarter, the Bonnies responded with five unanswered goals to take a 6–5 lead. Canisius scored the tying goal with 12 seconds left, with Mitchell finding the back of the net. However, the Bonnies were able to capitalize with a quick rush off the ensuing faceoff, as sophomore attacker Patrick Shanahan scored a buzzer-beating goal with one second left in regulation, sinking the Griffs.
Canisius head coach Mark Miyashita emphasized playing a full “60 minutes of lacrosse,” explaining that “it’s a lesson to learn for us. There were 59 other minutes where we could have played better in [but we] learned how hard it is to win games.”
Canisius will look to bounce back this upcoming weekend, when they host Merrimack at 12 p.m. on Saturday at the Demske Sports Complex.
Photo courtesy of Tom Wolf
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