DENVER, Colo. – Marcus Ward scored four goals and Chris Walsch added three to lead Air Force to a 15-10 victory over Canisius in the opening game of the Pioneer Faceoff Classic Saturday at the University of Denver’s Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
Ward and Walsch paced a potent Falcons (2-2) attack that established a new season high for goals. Nick Hruby and Grant Gould complimented the high-scoring duo of Walsch and Ward, chipping in two goals apiece.
Junior Steven Coss notched a career-high four goals and Connor Kearnan added three goals and two assists for a team-high five points to lead the Griffs (1-1).
Matthew Schwartz staked Air Force to a 1-0 lead at the 10:27 mark of the first quarter before two goals by Ward and a tally from Gould in a 2:25 span stretched the Falcons advantage to 4-0.
Kearnan got the Griffs on the board with his first of the game at the 4:27 mark of the first quarter and Coss scored with 7:54 remaining in the second frame to make it a 4-2 contest, but the Falcons used a pair of tallies from Walsch and individual markers from Cameron Carter and Jack Flynn to close the half on a 4-1 run and take an 8-3 lead into the locker room.
The teams traded man-up goals to open the third quarter before Walsch and Ward notched consecutive tallies to ignite a 5-1 Air Force spurt that lasted through the end of the frame and gave the Falcons their largest lead of the game, 14-5.
Coss attempted to ignite a Canisius comeback in the fourth, notching three straight goals while freshman Carter Stefaniak added his first career tally to cap a 4-0 spurt and bring the Griffs within five, 14-9, with 5:08 remaining.
Hruby stemmed the Canisius momentum just 56 seconds later with his second of the game before Kearnan added his third with 3:25 on the clock to determine the final margin.
Canisius wraps up its appearance in the Faceoff Classic Sunday with a 3:30 p.m. EST contest against No. 1/1 Denver at the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.
from GoGriffs.com via IFTTT
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