Alicia Psillos tallied her fourth goal of the game with 4:47 remaining and that proved to be the gamewinner as Manhattan defeated the Canisius College women’s lacrosse team 11-10 Friday night at the Demske Sports Complex.

Chelsea Martinez (Bethpage, N.Y.) led Canisius (4-11, 1-5 MAAC) with a season-high four goals in the game. Lauren Walsh (Auburn, N.Y.) had a career-high five assists in the game. Whitney Card (Alton, Ont.) and Awehiyo Thomas (Six Nations, Ont.) each had two goals for the Blue and Gold.

In a game that featured five lead changes and seven ties, the Golden Griffins were ahead 6-4 with 6:02 remaining in the first half on the second goal of the game for Martinez. Manhattan (4-10, 3-3) then scored the next four goals of the game to take an 8-6 lead early in the second half.

Canisius went on a three-goal run to take an 9-8 lead with 16:12 on a goal by Brett Poissant (Syracuse, N.Y.).

Manhattan then scored two goals to take a 10-9 lead before the fourth goal of the game by Martinez tied it at 10-10 with 8:35 remaining.

In her first career game in net, junior Erica Nasca (Orchard Park, N.Y.) made 15 saves. Manhattan Ashley Devins made 15 saves for the Jaspers.

“We competed for 60 minutes but still made too many costly mistakes in the game. Erica Nasca played really well in her first game in net,” Canisius coach Scott Teeter said. “We need to regroup and come out playing well on Senior Day.”

Canisius closes out its regular-season schedule Sunday, when it hosts Iona. Game time is set for 11 a.m.

Game Notes: Martinez tied her career high with the four goals as she also had four April 19, 2006… The previous career high for Walsh was four, which happed three times during her junior season… The 15 saves by Nasca tied a season high for the Griffs when Rasheeda Brenton (Clarence, N.Y.) had 15 against Saint Mary’s (CA) Feb. 24.

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Buffalo, N.Y. (April 20, 2007) -- Manhattan Women's Lacrosse moved one step closer to qualifying for next weekend's four-team MAAC Tournament on Friday night. Alicia Psillos netted the game winner for the Jaspers with 4:47 remaining in regulation, while goalie Ashley Devins slammed the door shut in the final minutes to preserve an 11-10 victory over Canisius College at the Demske Sports complex.

Manhattan's win coupled with Siena's 13-9 loss to Fairfield means the Jaspers (4-10, 3-3 MAAC) need only to win their regular season finale at Niagara on Sunday to return to the MAAC Tournament yet again.

With the game deadlocked at 10, Psillos came around the left side of the cage and buried her fourth goal of the evening into the top far corner of the net. Then, the Jasper defense, powered by Devins and fellow senior Katelyn Williams, prevented the Canisius attack from finding the equalizer.

The Golden Griffin's best opportunity to send the game into overtime came when Canisius' Marissa Brown slipped behind the defense with 1:54 remaining and ripped a point-blank shot toward the Manhattan net that Devins calmly turned aside. The save was the veteran netminder's 15th of the contest.

Williams, who picked up a groundball that led to the game-winning goal, made her biggest play of the night in the waning seconds of the first half. With under a minute to play in the opening period and the score tied at 6-6, the senior intercepted a pass at the Manhattan end of the field and raced up the far left side, passing off to Jill McGowan. McGowan then quickly found Lauren Civardi who put the ball past Canisius goalie Erica Nasca. Civardi, a senior, also scored two more on the day for the hat trick.

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2007-04-21