BUFFALO, NY – Chris Daly (Wynnewood, PA/Lower Merion) scored four goals to lead seven different scorers and junior goalkeeper Nick Hreshko (Warrington, PA/La Salle College H.S.) registered a career-best 14 saves to lead the Monmouth University men's lacrosse team to an 11-6 victory at Canisius, Saturday morning at Demske Sports Complex. With the victory, the Hawks, who remained unbeaten on road this season, improve to 6-3 overall and 2-1 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play, while the Golden Griffins slip to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in league action.

“As a staff it felt great to see our guys take a big step forward today in our development.,” commented head coach Brian Fisher. “We really emphasized doing the little things this week and it really showed up today. Our veterans & leaders really stepped up, played well and set the tone with our focus all day. As a result, we had so many guys make those invisible plays that don't necessarily have a statistic attributed to them but are vital to a team's success.”

“On the defensive end it was a total team effort,” added Fisher, whose defense did not allow a second-quarter goal. “Our close defenders & defensive midfielders were all tough on the ball which set the tone while Nick Hreshko played his best game this year and was excellent as the last line of defense.”

Monmouth opened up the scoring in the fifth minute when Griffin Figel (Basking Ridge, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) scored his second goal of the year. The Golden Griffins knotted the score four minutes later on a marker by Vince Gravino, but the Blue and White answered when Grier Wilson (Ijamsville, MD/St. John's Catholic Prep) intercepted Canisius' clear attempt and connected with Daly down the middle of the field where he tucked a shot inside the left post to put MU ahead 2-1. Goals from Connor Kearnan and Nick Tuttle allowed Canisius to end the first quarter in front 3-2.

Dan Bloodgood's (Jackson, NJ/Freehold Township) 10th goal of the year 3:48 into second frame evened the score a 3-3. The Hawks regained the lead with 5:04 left in the half on Zack Schliecher's (Wayne, PA/Conestoga) marker off a pass from Figel before Daly's second of the afternoon off a feed from Eric Berger (Ardsley, PA/Penn Charter) pushed the Blue and White's lead to two, 5-3. Berger got into the goal column with his unassisted tally with 3:16 left to allow MU to enter the break ahead by three.

Goals by Daly, Schulte and Berger within the first five minutes of the second half pushed Monmouth's run to six goals and inflated its lead to 9-3, before Gravino's goal halted the spurt. Jeff Edwards notched a goal six minutes into the last frame, two minutes before Daly scored his fourth of the afternoon. Gravino scored his third of the game for the Griffs and John Castellano (Eastchester, NY/Iona Prep/Curry College) capped off the scoring with his fourth of the season.

Fisher noted, “On the offensive end, Chris Daly has been a consistent threat all year and was great again today, Eric Berger was tough all over the field, Zach Schleicher has been great all week and was the glue with whoever he ran with today, John Castellano was the QB of the group this afternoon as a lot of the offense went through him and I cannot say enough about Dylan Schulte and everything he does for us.”

Daly finished with a team-best four points and was one of three Hawks to finish with double-digit point totals along with Berger (2 g, 1 a) and Figel (1 g, 1 a).

For the game, both teams finished with 35 shots and 27 ground balls apiece. The Hawks forced 16 Griffs turnovers, led by Castellano and Eamon Campbell (Massapequa, NY/St. Anthony's) who combined for five caused turnovers. Campbell extended his point streak to six games with an assist in the fourth quarter.

Monmouth returns home on Tuesday, April 5th, when it welcomes Lafayette to Monmouth Stadium at 3:00. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN3.