CANISIUS COLLEGE ATHLETICS
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Canisius women’s soccer team will officially open the 38th season in program history Sunday, Aug. 19, when the Golden Griffins travel to play at St. Francis (Pa.) in Loretto, Pa., fourth-year head coach Todd Clark announced Wednesday. In all, Canisius is scheduled to play 17 regular season games, including a pair of road contests at long-time local rivals Buffalo and St. Bonaventure.
After starting the season at St. Francis (Pa.) Aug. 19, the Griffs will host Robert Morris at the Demske Sports Complex Aug. 24 in the program’s 2018 home opener. That game is scheduled to kick-off at 7 p.m. Canisius then embarks on a three-game road swing, which will see the Blue and Gold play at Youngstown State (Aug. 26), at St. Bonaventure (Sept. 2) and at cross-town rival Buffalo (Sept. 7). The team returns home Sept. 9 to host Cleveland State at 1 p.m., before opening the MAAC portion of the 2018 slate Sept. 15 on the road at Saint Peter’s.
Canisius’ league home opener is set for Sept. 22, when Manhattan travels to play on the turf at the Demske Sports Complex. A road game at Marist Sept. 26 comes before a pair of home games, with the team playing host to Iona (Sept. 29) and defending MAAC champion Monmouth (Oct. 3).
October will see the Griffs play four of their seven games on the road. After a road game at Fairfield Oct. 6, Canisius returns home Oct. 10 for a match against long-time rival Niagara in a “Battle of the Bridge” contest. That game will be played at 7 p.m. Following the home date with the Purple Eagles, Canisius will play three-straight on the road, with MAAC games at Quinnipiac (Oct. 13) and Rider (Oct. 20) and a non-league game at Delaware State (Oct. 15) in between. The squad will close out the regular season at home Oct. 24 when the Griffs play host to Siena.
The 2018 MAAC Women’s Soccer Championship, which features the league’s top-six teams, will begin Oct. 28, with the quarterfinal round. The two winners from the quarterfinal round will advance to the tournament’s semifinals Nov. 1, with the league’s championship game set for Nov. 4. For the first time in conference history, all five games of the MAAC Women’s Soccer Championship will be hosted at on-campus sites, and the conference champion will earn the league’s automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship.
Canisius returns 16 letterwinners, including the team’s top-five scorers, from a team that went 7-8-3 overall and 2-6-2 in MAAC play a season ago.
