QU Women’s Lacrosse Hangs in Against MAAC Power Canisius, Falling 12-7 at Home

Saturday, April 2

Hamden, CT

1:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

2-8, 0-2MAAC

Canisius

5-5, 2-0MAAC

Canisius

Quinnipiac

QU Women’s Lacrosse Hangs in Against MAAC Power Canisius, Falling 12-7 at Home

4/2/2016 4:31:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Bobcats Hold MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Erica Evans Scoreless for the First Time in Her Career

By: QU Sports Information

HAMDEN, Connecticut – Having to battle not only the top team in the MAAC but also heavy rainfall in Hamden, the Quinnipiac women's lacrosse team toughed up and posted a strong effort despite the 12-7 loss to Canisius on Saturday.

Facing two of the most lethal scorers in the conference in Taylor Giglio (21-10-31) and Erica Evans (21-5-26; Preseason MAAC Player of the Year), the Bobcats designed and executed their defensive game plan perfectly as the two top scorers for the Golden Griffins were held to just one combined point (Giglio assist) on the day which easily stands as the lowest combined total for the pairing all season. The sophomore midfielder Evans was held scoreless in a game for the first time in her career.

Battling the rain in the early going, Quinnipiac's defense was lock solid as Canisius was held off the scoreboard for the first 12:12 of play. The Golden Griffins, who came in averaging just north of 10 goals per game, finally struck with a goal from Tessa Chad at the 17:48 mark of the first half.

Canisius went on to score the first three goals of the game and thanks to their extended aggressive man-to-man defense, forced several Quinnipiac turnovers as the Bobcats had a tough time adjusting to the most pressure-backed defense they have gone up against in 2016.

The tide started to turn towards the end of the first half as Aileen Carey (Long Beach, New York) received a great feed in the middle from Kathleen DeVito (Glastonbury, Connecticut) and scored her team-leading 15^th goal of the season to make it 3-1. A big sequence followed Carey's goal as Canisius' Evans was issued her second yellow card which forced her out for the remainder of the game.

Cara O'Meally (Bay Shore, New York) took advantage of the Evans absence with another Bobcat goal less than 30 seconds later as the deficit was lowered to 3-2 with over seven minutes remaining in the opening half.

Canisius, however, finished the half with their best extended stretch of the game as the Golden Griffins rode a 4-0 run to end the first half and head into halftime leading 7-2.
Quinnipiac made it interesting coming out into the second half as Allison Kuhn (Kingsville, Maryland) received a feed from Loren Antonacci (Smithtown, New York) and scored her first of the day while Kuhn later assisted on a DeVito marker that made it 7-4 with 26:24 remaining.

Playing with a three-goal lead, Canisius chose to slow it down and play keep-away from the Bobcats for an extended period as the Golden Griffins held the ball in their offensive zone for over eight minutes before the Bobcats started applying pressure and eventually gaining the ball back on offense.

An opportunity to make it just a two-goal game was thwarted by the Canisius goalkeeper Rebecca VanLaeken as Carey's shot from down low was stopped by the sophomore keeper and led to a breakout that was ultimately finished by Brenna Shanahan that resulted in a crucial two-goal swing.

Canisius grew their lead to as many as seven goals late in the second half before Antonacci punched in her first career goal and Kuhn added her second of the day late to make it 12-7 before the final buzzer sounded.

DeVito led the way for Quinnipiac, matching her season-high with four points (two goals, two assists) while Kuhn (two goals, one assist) and Antonacci (one goal, one assist) also finished with multi-point games for the Bobcats. DeVito continues to lead the team in points (7-11-18) while Kuhn is second on the team (12-4-16) in scoring. After going scoreless for the first three games of her career, Antonacci has recorded five points (1-4-5) in the last two contests for Quinnipiac.

Kiera Kelly (West Islip, New York) added three ground balls and three caused turnovers in today's game as she continues to lead the MAAC in both statistical categories (ground balls – 34, caused turnovers – 24). DeVito chipped in three ground balls and two caused turnovers while Alex Hlesciak (Lumberton, New Jersey) tallied three draw controls.

Up next for the Bobcats is a road MAAC matchup on Wednesday, April 6 as Quinnipiac will take on Siena at 3 PM in Loudonville, New York at the Siena Turf Field.