By Peter Neville, Sports Reporter
Women’s lacrosse punched their ticket into this year's MAAC Championship tournament after defeating Rider 16-10 earlier this week. The win clinched the sixth and final seed in the playoffs for the Griffs, marking the fourth straight season they have made the playoffs.
“We came into this game with a very clear plan to beat them with great off-ball movement and we executed it to perfection,” said head coach Russell Allen in his postgame interview. “I couldn't be prouder of the way our team played today."
After starting the season 8–1, the Griffs went into the final game of the regular season needing a win over Rider to clinch the sixth and final spot in the MAAC playoffs. However, just five minutes into the game, Canisius found themselves down 3–0 before scoring 10 unanswered goals, capped off by three straight goals from senior Caroline Netti.
Sophomore Meg Hiltz and senior Caroline Netti led the Griffs on the stat sheet, with Hiltz racking up eight points and Netti six, respectively. Hiltz posted a career high in assists, while Netti scored a career high in goals. For the Rider Broncs, they were led in scoring by graduate student Kylee Garcia and junior Toni Gismondi, who each had three points in Rider’s season finale.
After taking a 15–7 lead off of a goal from sophomore Maggie Tifft, coach Russell Allen took the opportunity to get some younger players some playing time in the regular season finale as freshmen Olivia Licardi and Mya Zeller played important parts in closing out the Griffs victory.
Looking ahead to the postseason the Griff match up against third in the conference Siena in the first round of the MAAC Championships. Siena finished the season 7–2 in conference play and 12–5 overall. When they played each other earlier in the season, Siena narrowly beat the Griffis at home 12–11 in overtime after a goal by Taryn Asselin.
The two teams face-off this Sunday in Loudonville, N.Y. at 12 p.m. on ESPN+ as the Griffs look to punch their ticket to the semi-finals for the first time since 2018.