By Delaney Hayden
Over Canisius College’s combined Easter and spring break, the women’s lacrosse team played a total of three games against Siena, Mount St. Mary’s and Quinnipiac.
The away games against Siena and Quinnipiac both resulted in losses, but the home game against Mount St. Mary’s ended up favoring the Golden Griffins on Senior Day and Staff Appreciation Day.
The Golden Griffins took on Marist on Wednesday as well, resulting in another home victory for the Golden Griffins on their Athletes for Athletes Day game, where a variety of other athletes from different Canisius teams showed up to cheer them on.
Both of the home games resulted in a one-goal win for the Griffs, with the Griffs celebrating seniors and staff members in their contest against Mount St. Mary’s.
On Saturday at the Demske Sports Complex, Canisius managed to overcome a five-goal deficit and secure an 11–10 victory over Mount St. Mary's by going on a 6–0 scoring run to seal the game.
This win put the Golden Griffins at a 7–5 overall record and a 2–3 standing in conference play, while the Mount fell to a 3–10 season record and 2–3 in MAAC action.
Skylar McArthur, a graduate midfielder and captain for Canisius, led the way with her eighth hat trick of the season.
Paige Stachura, Ivy Santana and Riley Davis each scored two goals, with Stachura also contributing an assist. Junior defender Meghan Ellis collected four ground balls, and Stachura caused four turnovers while on defense.
In goal, freshman Delaney Hayden earned her first career win, making six saves in the last 33:28 of play after replacing freshman goalkeeper Jody Chu in the second quarter.
The Griffs had fallen behind 10–5 with 9:14 left in the third quarter before mounting their comeback. Canisius scored the final four goals of the quarter to narrow the deficit to just one goal entering the final quarter of play.
The score remained unchanged until Davis scored with 7:41 remaining in the fourth quarter, tying the game at ten. The Griffs secured the win with Skylar McArthur firing the ball into the back of the net with only 20 seconds left on the game clock.
“Well done is better than well said” is a phrase that the Canisius women’s lacrosse team is reminded of daily and a quote from the book “The Hard Hat,” which they have read as a team.
This quote also pertains greatly to the Griffs’ win against Marist on Wednesday, where their victory kept Canisius’ playoff hopes alive. Graduate midfielder Skylar McArthur scored her second goal to thwart Marist's late-game surge.
The win improved the Golden Griffins' overall record to 8–6 and conference record to 3–5.
The victory also kept Canisius in the running for a spot in the six-team MAAC Women's Lacrosse Championship, tying Mount St. Mary's for fifth place heading into the final day of the regular season.
Canisius graduate attacker and captain Ivy Santana led the team with her third hat trick of the season, while McArthur, junior Avery Penoyer and freshman Maggie Tifft each added two goals.
Canisius jumped to an early 4-0 lead within the opening 10 minutes with tallies from Santana and Penoyer. McArthur scored another goal before the end of the first quarter, and Olivia Arntsen scored for Marist to make it 5-1 heading into the second quarter.
After exchanging goals early in the second quarter, Marist quickly scored two goals to bring the score to 6-4 with 2:10 left. Santana extended Canisius' lead to 7-4 with less than two minutes left in the quarter.
Canisius scored the first two goals of the third quarter to extend their lead to five, but Marist scored the last two goals of the quarter and the first three of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 9-all with 13:01 left.
With less than eight minutes remaining, McArthur broke the tie with her goal to put the Griffs up 10-9. Despite a final offensive push from Marist, Canisius recovered the ball and ran out the clock to secure the one-goal victory.
Women’s lacrosse concludes their regular season Saturday with an 11 a.m. contest against Fairfield at the Demske Sports Complex.
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