BUFFALO — Sacred Heart freshman Olivia Crema’s first collegiate goal in the game’s 74th minute helped lift the visiting Pioneers to a 2-1 road victory over Canisius Friday afternoon in the 2016 season-opener for both teams.
With the game tied at 1-1, Crema took a failed Canisius clear attempt off a Sacred Heart corner kick and fired a shot across the goalmouth into the upper left-hand corner of the goal to propel Sacred Heart to the victory.
Sacred Heart (1-0-0) took a 1-0 lead in the game’s 19th minute on an own goal, as a Canisius defender kicked the ball into her own net. The Golden Griffins (0-1-0) knotted the game at 1-1 just 58 seconds into the second half when junior Shawna Adams scored her first goal in a Canisius uniform off a feed from fellow junior Maddie Good.
Canisius held a 12-4 advantage in shots and the Griffs had seven corner kick chances against just two for Sacred Heart. Sophomore Nicole Sambuco made four stops in goal for the win for the Pioneers, while Canisius freshman Alana Rossi was credited with two stops for the Blue and Gold in her first collegiate start.
“To give up an own goal and an unobstructed corner kick, those are the mistakes that will hurt you sooner or later, said Canisius Coach Todd Clark. “With any luck, those things will just hurt us today and we’ll get that sorted out.”
“There was a lot of great things out there today. I thought our goal was well-fashioned and I thought we got an awful lot of good time from a lot of young people. Some of our older folks showed they are in fact older folks and did some nice things, too,” Clark added. “There are more positives about today than negatives, but obviously this is a very disappointing loss, especially because I thought we were in better situations through the entire game.”
Game Notes
• Seven of Canisius’ starting 11 players made their first career start in a Griff uniform on Friday, including five freshmen.
• Adams, who scored the Griffs’ lone marker in the loss, is no stranger to scoring. She had 47 career goals in two seasons as a member of the Genesee Community College team before transferring to Canisius.
• Rossi’s start in goal for Canisius makes her the first freshmen goalkeeper to start the season opener for the team since former Griff Kelly Slater started the 1997 season opener against Saint Joseph’s.
• Friday’s game marked the second all-time meeting between these two programs, with Sacred Heart winning both contests.
Up Next
Canisius heads to the state of Ohio for its first road game of the 2016 slate, when the team plays Kent State Sunday. Game time in Kent, Ohio is set for 1 p.m.
