Canisius Earns Victory over Fairfield in the Semifinal of the Women's Lacrosse Championship
MAAC Sports
BUFFALO, NY – Top-seeded Canisius College defeated fifth-seeded Fairfield University 10-7 in the second semifinal of the 2016 Women’s Lacrosse Championship in Buffalo, New York at Demske Sports Complex on the campus of Canisius College.
MAAC Midfielder of the Year, Erica Evans opened up the contest with a goal for Canisius 55 seconds after the opening draw on a free position goal, giving the Griffs a 1-0 lead. Fairfield’s Riley Hellstein scored the equalizer on an assists from Julieanne Mascera at the 24:27 mark making it a 1-1 contest. Canisius would retake the lead at 2-1, after a Taylor Giglio unassisted goal at 17:14, but it wouldn’t take long for Hellstein to respond with another goal, knotting the contest again at 2-2. The Griffs ended the half on a 3-0 run, getting two more goals from Evans, including her 100th career tally, and a goal from MAAC Rookie of the Year, Tess Chad to take a 5-2 advantage into the half.
Evans continued her scoring spree in the second half, recording her fourth goal on the night off of a free position goal at the 29:34 mark, improving the Griffs lead to 6-2. Mascera would score with an assists from Hellstien to cut the deficit in half at 6-3. Two straight goals from Lauren Smolensky would extend the Griffs lead to 8-3 with 20 minutes remaining in the half. No team would score again until the Stags got on the boards with 7:36 left on a goal from Alex Fehmel cutting the score in half again at 8-4. The Griffs added two more goals pushing its lead to 10-4 before Fairfield reeled off three goals in the final 2:30, with two coming from Colleen Reynolds and one from Maeve Quinn to end the contest at 10-7.
Canisius was led by Evan’s four goals in the field and MAAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Rebecca VanLaeken made seven saves in the goal.
Hellstein and Reynolds both scored two goals each to lead the Stags, while goalkeeper Chelsey Sidaras had eight stops in goal.
Canisius moves into the title game for the sixth consecutive season and will face third-seed Monmouth University on Sunday, May 8 at 12:00 p.m. live on ESPN3.
The winner of the 2016 MAAC Women’s Lacrosse Championship earns the league’s automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship. The NCAA Division I selection announcement will take place on Sunday, May 8 at 9:00 p.m. on NCAA.com.
For all up-to-date information on women’s lacrosse, visit maacsports.com and for championship information, visit maacsports.com/womenslax