Canisius Wins the 2016 Women's Lacrosse Championship
MAAC Sports
BUFFALO, NY – Top-seed Canisius College defeated third-seeded Monmouth University, 17-5, in the championship game of the 2016 Women’s Lacrosse Championship in Buffalo, New York at Demske Sports Complex on the campus of Canisius College.
MAAC regular season champion, Canisius, jumped out to a 10-1 advantage over Monmouth in the first half. MAAC All-Rookie selection Jourdan Roemer got the Griffs on the board two minutes into the final with two goals in 37 seconds, giving Canisius a 2-0 advantage. Five minutes later at the 23:43 mark, Taylor Giglio scored an unassisted goal, followed by a free position goal from Midfielder of the Year, Erica Evans, 11 seconds later, pushing the Canisius lead to 4-0. Evans would follow that up recording her second tally at the 20:11 minute mark extending the advantage to 5-0. Giglio got her second goal on the day at 17:51 with Evans scoring her third just 18 seconds later making it a 7-0 game. Roemer scored the next two goals in a row for the Griffs, giving her four in the half, while Evans added the 10th of the day for Canisius, giving her four goals as well. Monmouth wiped out the shutout with 1:20 before break on an unassisted goal by Carly Sane making it 10-1 heading into the half. Canisius scored five of its 10 goals from the free position in the first half.
Monmouth got its second goal of the contest and first in the second half from the free position at 25:43 from Alexa Smith, cutting the deficit to 10-2. The Griffs would take a 13-2 lead on three straight goals from Allie Stewart, Giglio’s third goal of the day, and Evans fifth goal. A goal from Monmouth’s Marial Pierce at 18:33 would cut the Griffs lead back to 10, making the score 13-3,Giglio’s fourth goal and Pierce’s second goal, would keep it a 10 point contest at 14-4 before another Stewart goal made it 15-4. Monmouth added one more goal on the day from Sane, while Canisius got on the board two more times with Roemer’s fifth tally and Stewart’s third.
The Griffs had stellar performances from, Evans who scored seven points on five goals and two assists, while Roemer added five goals, Giglio had four goals, and Stewart recorded three tallies. Rebecca VanLaeken made six saves in the winning efforts.
Monmouth was led by Pierce and Sane’s two goals apiece. Caroline Huelster made three saves in goal.
Evans was named the championship Most Valuable Player. Joining her on the All-Championship Team were teammates, Sami Franco, Giglio, Roemer, and VanLaeken. Monmouth added Caroline Corbliss, Huelster, and Pierce. Allison Gionta and Abigail Witczak from Marist made the team, and Colleen Reynolds and Chelsey Sidaras of Fairfield were selected.
Canisius 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