CANISIUS COLLEGE ATHLETICS
League-leading Quinnipiac capitalized on a pair of lengthy scoring runs to defeat Canisius, 19-14, in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men’s lacrosse action Saturday at the Quinnipiac Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium in Hamden, Conn.
Jake Tomsik led a potent Bobcats (7-5, 4-0 MAAC) attack with four goals and two assists while Foster Cuomo chipped in four goals and one helper. Brian Feldman and Mike Fletcher each finished with four points on three goals and an assist.
Sophomore Mathieu Boissonneault tallied four goals and added an assist while senior Connor Kearnanpitched in three goals and two assists for the Golden Griffins (5-7, 2-2 MAAC). Senior Steven Coss added four points, recording one goal and three assists.
After a back and fourth start to the contest, Fletcher scored at the 8:42 mark of the second quarter to break a 5-5 tie and ignite a 6-0 spurt for the Bobcats that lasted nearly seven minutes and saw four different players find the back of the net.
Ryan Corcoran scored just 50 seconds after Fletcher’s tally to make it a 7-5 contest while goals from Feldman and Corcoran in a 23-second sequence just moments later stretched the Quinnipiac cushion to four.
Tomsik capped the spurt with back-to-back tallies to finish off a first-half hat trick and increase the Bobcats lead to 11-5. Boissonneault ended the Quinnipiac run during the final minute of the quarter to make it an 11-6 game heading into intermission.
The teams exchanged goals to open the second half before Matt DiLella would set the Bobcats’ second lengthy scoring run of the game in motion with first of the campaign during the later portion of the third, sparking a 7-0 spurt that gave Quinnipiac its largest lead of the game, 19-7, with a little under nine minutes remaining in the fourth.
Canisius attempted to make the final minutes of the game interesting with a run of its own, using tallies from five different players, highlighted by a pair of goals from Boissonneault and junior Mario Caito, during a 4:48 span midway through the final frame to pull within five, 19-14.
That would be as close as the Griffs would get however, as both teams were held off the scoreboard the rest of the way to determine the final five-goal margin.
Earlier in the contest, the teams traded goals in a back-and-forth first quarter as Cuomo and Matt Frost struck in the opening 1:26 of the contest to give the Bobcats a quick 2-0 advantage, only to see the Griffs respond with tallies from Kearnan and Boissonneault to tie the game at 2-2.
Tomsik and Cuomo restored Quinnipiac’s two-goal cushion later in the frame, but senior Keith Pravato and sophomore Holden Garlent countered for Canisius before the end of the quarter to knot the score at 4-all after one.
The teams continued to exchange goals early in the second with Frost putting the Bobcats back in front just 49 seconds into the period while Kearnan answered for Canisius a little more than four minutes later to tie the game at 5-5, setting the stage for Quinnipiac to take control of the contest.
Head Coach Mark Miyashita‘s Postgame Comments
“The first quarter was a great quarter. We went out and traded goals with them. Right off the bat in the second quarter we did the same. Unfortunately, we let Quinnipiac get on a run later in the second and we had no answer for them. That dug us a huge hole that we could not recover from early enough in the game. We made it a game in the fourth quarter and tried to make a frantic comeback, but it was too little, too late.
“We have to get back to basics and be more physical on defense and pay attention to details on offense. We have to recognize when it’s the right time to push and when it’s the right time to settle down and hold the ball and allow our defense to collect themselves and catch their breath so that we can get ourselves settled. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that today. Guys were getting impatient with not having the ball and it just became a lot of errors on both ends.”
Game Notes
• Canisius saw its record against Quinnipiac move to 3-8 with Saturday’s loss. The Griffs also moved to 1-7 in road contests against the Bobcats.
• The 19 goals surrendered by the Griffs on Saturday matched a season high, equaling the total scored by then-No. 1 Albany back on March 20.
• Canisius recorded three or more man-up goals for just the second time this season as it was 3-for-4 in man-up situations on Saturday.
• Senior Connor Kearnan tallied five or more points in a game for the seventh time this season with his five-point effort on Saturday.
• With his five points on Saturday, Kearnan moved into a tie with Ned Franz for eighth place on the program’s single-season points list with 62.
• With his two assists on Saturday, Kearnan moved into a tie for seventh place on the program’s career assists chart with 75.
• Sophomore Mathieu Boissonneault notched his fourth hat trick of the season with his four-goal effort on Saturday. He becomes the first Canisius player to reach the 30-goal plateau this season.
• Sophomore Holden Garlent recorded his first career goal with his tally during the first quarter on Saturday.
• Senior Steven Coss recorded three or more assists for the third time this season as he recorded three helpers on Saturday.
Up Next
Canisius returns home April 20 to host MAAC foe Manhattan in a 4 p.m. contest at the Demske Sports Complex.
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