Led by four goals from Ashley Gray (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) and four points from Lauren Walsh (Auburn, N.Y.), the Canisius College women's lacrosse team defeated Vermont 13-10 Saturday afternoon at the Demske Sports Complex.

Vermont (0-2) scored three goals of the game in a span of 1:23 early in the first half before Canisius (2-2) tallied nine of the next 10 goals in the half to take a commanding 9-4 lead after the opening 30 minutes. During that stretch, six different Golden Griffins recorded goals, including three from Gray and two from Walsh.

Vermont scored the opening two goals of the second half to make the score 9-6, but the Griffs responded with two goals of their own to push the lead back to five goals. The Catamounts then scored four of the next five goals, all in the last seven minutes of the game, to get as close as 12-10 with 2:13 remaining. Canisius controlled the ball the rest of the way and a goal by Awehiyo Thomas (Six Nations, Ont.) in the closing seconds put the game away.

Senior Rasheeda Brenton (Clarence, N.Y.) made 11 saves for the Griffs to pick up the win while Meghan Hanley had 12 saves for the Catamounts.

Canisius hosts No. 7 Notre Dame March 10, at the Demske Sports Complex with game time set for 1 p.m.

Game Notes: Junior Whitney Card (Alton, Ont.) had her first two assists of the season… Canisius won its home opener for the first time since 2002… The Griffs have won five straight at home… Freshman Marissa Brown (Syracuse, N.Y.) set a career high with two points and had scored in all four games… Amanda Marts (Hamburg, N.Y.) has two goals in each of the last three games… Gray has 11 goals in the last three games… The nine first-half goals were the most by the Griffs since they had 10 in the semifinals of the MAAC Championship April 28, 2006.

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BUFFALO, N.Y. – Ashley Gray netted four goals and Lauren Walsh recorded four points to lead the Canisius Golden Griffins to a 13-10 victory over visiting Vermont in women's lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon.

"We had our opportunities today, but didn't completely execute our game plan," said Vermont head coach Jen Johnson. "We struggled to score throughout the game, hitting the post five times made it frustrating, but our comeback flurry with four goals in the final six minutes was promising given the fact that mostly freshmen and sophomores were on the field at that time. Their energy gave us a spark, but unfortunately it wasn't enough today."

The Catamounts went up 3-0 to begin the game behind goals from Tori Wasson (Lake Forest, Ill.), Sarah DeStefano (Eliot, Maine) and Kristen Millar (Whitby, Ontario). But Cansisius answered with nine goals from six different scorers and took a 9-4 lead at the break.

Wasson scored the first two goals of the second half to cut the lead to 9-6, but the Golden Griffins answered with two goals of their own to push back out in front again 11-6. The Catamounts rounded out the scoring with four goals in the final four minutes, including freshman Kacey Roeder's (New City, N.Y.) first career tally, but the Golden Griffins were able to hold of the Catamount comeback attempt.

Wasson finished the day with a team-high four goals and has six in two games for Vermont. Millar added two goals and DeStefano added an assist to go along with her scoring tally.

Junior Meaghan Hanley (Fort Pierce, Fla.) made 12 saves in the Vermont net, while Rasheeda Brenton was credited with 11 stops for Canisius.

Vermont falls to 0-2 on the year and will face Niagara at Canisius on Sunday (March 4) at 12:00 pm. Canisius improved to 2-2 on the year.

2007-03-03