Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Canisius University Athletics

#Griffs The Official Home of the Canisius University Golden Griffins | #Griffs
Canisius attackman Keegan Kozack cradles the ball while being guarded by a Mount St. Mary's defender during game action at the Demske Sports Complex on April 10, 2024
www.tomwolf.smugmug.com
9
Winner CAN CAN 5-9 (2-5)
7
Wagner WAG 1-13 (1-7)
Winner
CAN CAN
5-9 (2-5)
9
Final
7
Wagner WAG
1-13 (1-7)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
CAN CAN 3 2 1 3 9
Wagner WAG 2 3 1 1 7

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse |

Men’s Lacrosse Earns Hard-Fought Victory at Wagner

Canisius used a four-goal surge during the middle stages of the second half to erase a one-goal deficit and defeat Wagner, 9-7, in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference men's lacrosse action Saturday at Hameline Field in Staten Island, N.Y.
 
Senior Keegan Kozack became just the 24th player in program history to reach the 100-point plateau for his career as he recorded his first hat trick of the season to pace the Golden Griffins (5-9, 3-5 MAAC) attack.
 
Senior Hunter Parucki dished out three assists and junior Patrick Mitchell notched two goals and an assist while reigning MAAC Rookie of the Week Mason Wolford pitched in two goals.
 
Sophomore Micah Hanson went 13-of-20 at the X and scooped up a game-high 10 ground balls. Junior Tommy Kunz finished with 14 saves between the pipes for Canisius, with 12 of his stops coming in the second half.  
 
Nick Martini scored four goals for the Seahawks (1-13, 1-7 MAAC). CJ Sweitzer finished with a goal and two assists while Jake Mitchell tallied a goal and an assist. Rudy Zarate posted 13 saves in goal for Wagner.  
 
Canisius jumped out to a 3-0 lead, thanks to an opening goal from junior Kayden Easter and a pair of tallies from Kozack, only to see Wagner counter with strikes from Mitchell and Sweitzer to make it a one-goal game at the end of the first.
 
The Griffs regained their three-goal cushion in the opening stages of the second quarter, using markers from Wolford and Kozack to build a 5-2 cushion.
 
Martini brought the Seahawks back into the contest, rattling off four unanswered goals during 9:08 stretch that lasted into the opening stages of the third quarter to give the home team its first lead of the day, 6-5, with 12:25 to play in the frame.
 
Mitchell brought the Griffs level with his first of the game at the 7:25 mark of the third, igniting a four-goal spurt for the Griffs that lasted nearly 20 minutes of game action and saw Canisius grab a 9-6 lead with just over three minutes to play in regulation.
 
A goal by Rea James in the final minute of regulation trimmed the Griffs advantage to two, but that was as close as the Seahawks would get, as Canisius closed the door the rest of the way to secure the road victory.  
 
HEAD COACH MARK MIYASHITA'S POSTGAME COMMENTS
"I'm excited for the men in the locker room to come away with a win here today. We have put ourselves in a position to be playing for something next week against a talented Sacred Heart squad and the excitement is that we've got purpose to everything we do going into the last week of the season. We're playing for something, and I encourage people to get out to the Demske next Saturday at 11 a.m. to come support these guys and help give us a little home field advantage.
 
"We hit a lot of pipes today offensively and had a couple of opportunities we thought we could have cashed in on early, but the guys defensively did a really good job of bearing down, especially that first five minutes of the third quarter where we got man down a couple of times, and we were playing a bunch in our defense end. We need to be smarter in a couple of those segments in transition, where it's a question of 'do we have the shot?' or should we slow it down to conserve some energy. But I'm just proud of the guys and the way they banded together today. The bench energy was amazing again today. It's neat to see this group continuing to gel and come together as we head down the stretch in the regular season.
 
"Keegan (Kozack) did a great job today of finding some great opportunities and putting the ball in the back of the back of the net for us, which was huge. We've seen a ton of growth from him, as a person, as a student and as a lacrosse player. He's left an indelible mark on his teammates in the program. Just very thankful for the four years that we've had with the team, and it was great to see him reach a significant personal milestone during today's contest."
 
GAME NOTES
• Wagner outshot Canisius by a 47-35 margin in the contest, highlighted by a 15-5 advantage in the third quarter.
• Canisius was nearly perfect on its clear attempts, going 19-for-20 while Wagner was just 18-of-21 in its clear attempts.
• The Griffs were 0-for-1 in man-up opportunities while Wagner was 1-for-5 in its EMO.
• Canisius picked up its third win of the season when holding its opponent to single-digit goals. The Griffs are also 20-9 under Miyashita when keeping the opposition to nine goals or fewer.
• The seven goals allowed equaled the Griffs' season-low for goals allowed, matching the total from their contest against Bellarmine on Feb. 17.
• Kozack became just the 24th player in program history to reach the 100-point plateau for his career with his hat trick. He is the first Canisius player since Jacob Buck (2019-22) to reach the century mark in points.
• Kozack recorded his first hat trick of the season and the 11th of his career with his three-goal performance.
• Kozack also reached the 80-goal plateau for his career with his three goals, becoming just the 16th player in program history to reach the 80-goal milestone in his career.
• Parucki dished out three-or-more assists in a game for the third time in his career as he finished with a season-best three assists.
• Kunz posted double-digit saves for the 13th time this season as he finished Saturday's contest with 14 saves.
• Hanson scooped up double-digit ground balls for the fourth time this season as he finished with 10 ground balls.
• Hanson also became only the second player in program history to record 100-or-more ground balls in a game in multiple seasons, joining head coach Mark Miyashita on the that exclusive list (2000, 2003).
 
UP NEXT
Canisius closes out the regular season April 20 with a home MAAC contest against Sacred Heart.
 
Start time for the matchup between the Griffs and Pioneers is slated for noon at the Demske Sports Complex.
 
Like Canisius Athletics on Facebook
Follow @GoGriffs and @GriffsMLAX on X (formally known as Twitter)
Follow @GoGriffs and @GriffsMLAX on Instagram
 
Print Friendly Version