Buffalo, N.Y. — Maddy Gill scored four goals to lead Niagara past Canisius 12-11 Wednesday in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference women's lacrosse at Demske Sport Complex.
The Purple Eagles improved to 5-7, 4-0 MAAC, while the Golden Griffins fell to 8-4, 2-2.
Niagara jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Gill scored at 12:59, but Canisius answered immediately. Ella Forcucci buried back-to-back free-position goals to give Canisius a 3-1 advantage.
Olivia Ng knotted the game up at two before Forcucci completed her hat-trick to regain the lead for the Golden Griffins. Ng responded with back-to-back goals at the end of the first quarter to give the Purple Eagles a 4-3 advantage heading into the second frame.
Ashlyn Dhandwar, assisted by Megan Previdi, evened the game at 4-4 at 13:36. Forcucci then converted a player-up goal to put Canisius back in front 5-4.
With Avery Olschefskie still serving her card, Sydney Huhtala scored a man-down goal off a Michaela Delles assist at 7:03, tying the game 5-5 and triggering a Canisius goalie change, Olivia Licardi replacing Isabel Gautreaux. Avery Olschefskie then scored twice in quick succession, at 2:31 and 1:48, and Niagara carried a 7-5 lead into halftime.
Canisius opened up the third quarter with three straight goals from Megan Previdi, Forcucci, and Maggie Tifft scoring in succession to put the Golden Griffins ahead 8-7.
Niagara refused to fold. Gill, assisted by Maive Partlow, scored with 36 seconds left in the quarter to tie the game at 8-8 heading to the fourth.
A Tifft free-position goal at 13:27 put the Golden Griffins ahead 9-8 to start the final frame, and Leah Pfeiffer, assisted by Previdi, made it 10-8 at 10:31.
Niagara looked to mount a comeback as Delles converted a power-play goal off Olschefskie's assist at 6:34, and Gill tied the game at 10-10 with a free-position goal at 5:36. Gill then gave the Purple Eagles the lead for good at 2:43, taking an assist from Ng. Delles added an unassisted goal at 2:14 to push the margin to 12-10. Tifft scored for Canisius on the man advantage at 1:14, but the Golden Griffins ran out of time.
Game Notes
Niagara is now 17-18 all-time against Canisius
Gill set a season-high with four goals
Ng recorded hat-tricks in back-to-back games for the first time in her collegiate career
Terry made 10 saves in the winning effort
Sydney Huhtala tied a season-high with five ground balls
Up Next
Niagara heads back on the road to face Rider Saturday April 4 at 1:00 pm in Lawrenceville, NJ.
