The Canisius College men's lacrosse team clinched a spot in the MAAC Tournament with a thrilling 10-9 overtime victory over Siena on Wednesday afternoon. The win extended the Griffs' school-record winning streak to seven games and Canisius tied school records with its seventh win of the season and sixth conference victory.

Senior Matt Hajek (St. Catharines, Ontario) won the lone faceoff in overtime and after a Canisius timeout, sophomore Alex Caldiero (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored an unassisted goal 2:25 into the extra frame as the Griffs improved to 7-3 on the season and a perfect 6-0 in MAAC play. The Canisius victory coupled with Providence's loss to Marist gives the Griffs sole possession of first place in the MAAC standings.

"Alex called his own number in overtime," said Canisius head coach Randy Mearns. "He has been working on that play in practice and he buried his opportunity. He redeemed himself after their goalie made a great save on him at the end of regulation."

Freshman Adam Jones (Owen Sound, Ontario) led the Griffs with five points, scoring three goals and adding two assists. Senior Tom Hensel (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) recorded two goals and one assist, while Nick LoCoco (Cicero, N.Y.) added a goal and a pair of assists. Caldiero and freshman Greg Michael (Orchard Park, N.Y.) both posted a goal and an assist while senior Michael Blocho (Grand Island, N.Y.) and sophomore Michael Benzinger (Buffalo, N.Y.) rounded out the scoring for Canisius with a goal each.

Senior Chris Courteau (West Seneca, N.Y.) posted seven saves to anchor a strong Canisius defense performance. Junior Mark Leonard (Syracuse, N.Y.) recorded a team-best seven caused turnovers, while sophomore Matt Barkas (Pittsburgh, Pa.) led the Griffs with eight ground balls.

"Our defense played extremely well today," Mearns said. "Mark Leonard and Matt Barkas picked off a lot of passes and went hard for ground balls. (Senior) Michael Ferranti (Orchard Park, N.Y.) also played well and was the quarterback of the unit."

Siena (7-6, 1-4 MAAC) controlled the first half of play to head into intermission with a 4-2 advantage. The Saints' Matt Girsh scored the first goal of the game 2:24 into the game and the game remained 1-0 until Hensel netted his first goal of the day with 44 seconds left in the first period. Girsh would score two early goals in the second period to give Siena a 3-1 advantage. The two teams traded a pair of goals to end the first half.

Siena outshot the Griffs, 19-10 in the first half, including 14-4 in the first period of play. Courteau kept Canisius in the game during the opening half, recording six saves in the first two quarters.

The Griffs would dominate the third period of play, outshooting the Saints 11-2 and scoring all five goals during the quarter. Blocho started the run with a goal at the 9:58 mark and was followed with goals by Hensel, LoCoco, Michael and Jones as Canisius headed into the fourth with a 7-4 advantage.

The Saints would not give up and would fight back in the fourth quarter. Siena scored the first three goals of the final frame in just 4:26 to knot the game at seven. Jones tallied an unassisted goal just a minute after the Siena run as Canisius reclaimed the lead. Benzinger added another score at the 8:38 mark to stretch the Griffs advantage to two.

Siena would once again fight back, scoring with 1:40 left in regulation followed by Kenny Mazzone's unassisted score with just 53 seconds remaining. After a Canisius timeout, Hajek won the faceoff and Caldiero looked as if he was going to score the game-winning goal with four seconds left. However Siena's goalie Tom Morr made a diving save to send the game into overtime. Caldiero would find the back of the net in overtime as Canisius clinched a spot in the 2008 MAAC Championship.

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2008-04-17