STAFF REPORTS
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BUFFALO — Connor Fields scored four goals and added three assists to lead No. 8/9 Albany to a 20-11 victory over Canisius in collegiate men’s lacrosse action Tuesday at the Demske Sports Complex.
Fields powered a high-powered Great Danes attack that established a new season high for goals, as they extended their winning streak to five games with the victory. Bennett Drake tallied four goals and Sean Eccles chipped in two goals and added an assist to compliment the Albany (5-1) offense.
Juniors Connor Kearnan and Ryan McKee tallied three goals each for the Griffs (3-4). Junior Steven Coss tallied two goals and an assist, while freshman Alex Hornung finished with a goal and two assists.
Albany took control of the contest in the early going, tallying four goals in the opening 3:23 of the game, to build a quick 4-0 cushion.
Hornung stemmed the Great Danes momentum, getting Canisius on the board with 7:59 remaining in the first to make it a 4-1 contest, but Albany responded by tallying six of the next eight goals to stretch its margin to 10-3.
Back-to-back tallies from Mckee and senior Lewis Vaccaro brought the Griffs within five, 10-5. The Great Danes once again rose to the occasion, rattling off four unanswered goals to spark a 5-1 spurt to end the first half, and take a 15-6 lead into the locker room.
Coss and McKee opened the scoring in the third quarter to trim the Griffs deficit to 15-8. The Great Danes countered with five straight goals to take their largest lead of the game, 20-8, before Kearnan notched the final three goals of the game to determine the final margin.
JD Colarusso made nine saves in goal for Albany. Junior Liam Ganzhorn recorded 11 stops in the cage for Canisius.
Canisius moved to 2-3 all-time against Albany with Tuesday’s setback. All five games in the series between the two programs have been won by the home team. The Griffs squared off their second nationally-ranked opponent of the season with Tuesday’s contest against the Great Danes. Canisius took on then-No. 1 Denver at the Pioneer Faceoff Classic Feb. 26 in Denver. Albany won 26 of the 35 faceoffs held during of the contest, including 19-of-23 draws taken during the first half. Junior Connor Kearnan recorded his fifth hat trick of the season and his third in as many games with his three-goal effort on Tuesday. Junior Ryan McKee posted his third hat trick of the season and the fifth of his collegiate career with his three-goal effort on Tuesday. Junior Liam Ganzhorn recorded double-digit saves in a game for the third time this season and the 10th time in his career as he finished Tuesday’s contest with 11 saves. Freshman Reece Eddy paced Canisius with six ground balls while sophomore Logan Monroe led the squad with three caused turnovers.
Canisius returns to action Saturday when it travels to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe Manhattan for a 1 p.m. matinee.
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