BUFFALO, NY- Monmouth University's women's lacrosse team will play for the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship on Sunday against top-seeded Canisius College.
#3 Monmouth University (12-7, 6-2 MAAC)
vs #1 Canisius College (12-6, 8-0 MAAC)
Sunday, May 8, 2016 | 12 PM Demske Sports Complex (Buffalo, NY)
ESPN3 Link: http://es.pn/1SXjx2v
Livestats Link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=131754&a=1
Championship Program (Online): http://user-599o5az.cld.bz/2016-Women-s-Lacrosse-Championship?DB_OEM_ID=17400
What's on the Line
The winner of Sunday's game will earn the league's automatic bid to the 2016 NCAA Tournament. This is Monmouth's first appearance in the MAAC Championship game since joining the league in 2014 but has appeared in a total 13 conference championship games since 1998. The Griffs make their seventh appearance in MAAC Championship games and their sixth consecutive appearance in the game. Canisius is 4-2 in Championship games, losing last year's title matchup with Fairfield but winning the previous four MAAC Championship games.
The Series
Canisius has dominated the series with the Hawks, owning a 5-0 record in the series. The Griffs have won all three matchups with Monmouth since MU joined the league, including this year's 19-6 victory on April 16. In that contest Erica Evans and Taylor Giglio combined for 14 of the Griff's 19 goals. Marial Pierce had five points on two goals and three assists in the contest. The Griffs scored four straight goals en route to a 11-2 halftime lead. The teams first met in the 2012 season, with the Griffs taking that game 19-11 in West Long Branch. Canisius is 3-0 all-time at home against Monmouth.
Coaching Matchup
The Hawks are led by first year head coach Eileen Ghent, who owns a 12-7 career record. She is the fifth women's lacrosse coach in Monmouth Program history. Ghent previously served as assistant coach for the Hawks for four seasons. She leads a group that was picked third in the MAAC preseason poll. A former Rutgers University player began her coaching career with the Scarlet Knights before coming to Monmouth. Ghent looks to bring a MAAC title to West Long Branch for the first time in lacrosse.
Canisius is led by Scott Teeter, who is in his 14th season at the helm of the Golden Griffins. Teeter has led Canisius to six straight MAAC title games, winning four of the previous five. He owns an overall record of 129-114 and has been named MAAC Lids Teamsports Coach of the Year three times. Teeter has coached 65 all-conference players in his 14 seasons. After serving for years as the U-19 Team Canada coach, the Shelburne, Ontario native was recently name as the Team Canada head coach. Teeter is a 2002 graduate of Canisius, where he was a four-year member of the Griffs' Ice Hockey team.
Monmouth Award Winners
The Hawks took home three first team all-conference honors at Thursday night's awards banquet. Seniors Marial Pierce, Caroline Huelster (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) and Kristina Vangeli (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough) all were first team selections. Pierce and Vangeli were preseason selections as well as first team honorees a season ago.
Monmouth Team Notes
· Monmouth is now 1-2 in MAAC Semifinal games, with a 1-1 record against Marist and an 0-1 record against Fairfield.
· The Hawks are making their first appearance in a MAAC Championship game and their 13th overall conference championship.
· Monmouth's last appearance in a Championship was the 2013 Northeast Conference Championship, which the Hawks won 11-3 against Mount St. Mary's
· The Hawks have recorded double digit wins for the 13th time in program history
· Monmouth owns the second best winning percentage at .662 in the league and are only one of the two teams in the MAAC with double-digit wins (Canisius- .667)
· The opening round win against Iona gave Monmouth an 8-1 record at home in 2016, which is the second best home mark in program history (9-0 record in 2005).
· Nine Monmouth players have started all 19 games, including Huelster in goal. The senior has played in goal for all but 25 minutes of the season.
Coach Ghent Notes
· Ghent is the third Monmouth coach to lead her team to a championship game in her first year. Sue Cowperthwait (2001) and Kelly Van Zile (2006) each earned championship game bids and wins in their first years as head coaches.
· Her 12 wins ties Cowperthwait for second most all-time, trailing only Van Zile's 13 victories as a first year head coach.
· Ghent owns a 2-1 record in playoff games after Friday's win against Marist
Individual Notes
· Monmouth's defensive lineup of seniors Nicole Duca, Vangeli, Taryn Schweizer and sophomore Amanda Miller have started every game in 2016.
· Midfielder Kate Ryan is in her first season as a starter and has started all 19 games. Ryan has 24 goals this season, which is fifth on the team. She scored five goals in a week 2 12-10 win over B1G rival Rutgers at Monmouth Stadium.
· Sophomore Alexa Smith has scored 5+ goals in five games this season, including six in the season finale win over Iona. Smith was named Offensive Player of the Week two times and currently leads Monmouth with 41 goals. Last season she was an all-league selection after scoring six goals in 12 games as a freshman.
· Smith is the first 40-goal scorer since Sam Lillo scored 42 in 20 games in 2012.
· Pierce is the only Monmouth player to register a point in every game she has played in this season. She ranks third in the league in assists per game, and her 61 points is seventh among all league players.
· Huelster was named Defensive Player of the Week a season-high three times after ranking first in the league in saves, save percentage and saves per game. Her 177 saves this season is third in the NCAA, 9.56 saves per game is ninth and her .482 save percentage is 23rd among all goalies.
· Huelster's 177 saves this season is the fourth most for a goalie at Monmouth.
· Huelster owns a 10.12 goals against average and ranks second in the MAAC and eighth nationally in ground balls per game with 3.11.
· The senior netminder had a career-high 15 saves in Monmouth's First Round win over Iona. She has double-digit saves in nine of 19 games this season.
· Monmouth has had six players with 20+ goals this season and two with 30+ goals. In addition to Smith's 41, junior Olivia Higson (Monmouth's only international player) has scored 30 goals this season.
· Senior Michelle Gonzales (23g-16a) and junior Ashley Cross (11g-10a) join Pierce as the only players on the Hawks with double digit goals and assists.
· Pierce's 30 assists this season ranks sixth all-time at Monmouth for a single season.
· Vangeli set the Monmouth record for draw controls towards the end of last season and with her 44 this season, currently has 229. Fellow senior Marial Pierce has 74 this season, giving her 177 all-time second behind only Vangeli. Pierce currently ranks 18th nationally in draw controls per game.
· Today will be Vangeli's 74th career start (out of 75 possibilities), which is fourth all-time in Monmouth history. Vangeli is tied for 12th all-time in caused turnovers with 64 while Pierce ranks 11th all-time at Monmouth with 68.
· Jenny Staines and Monica Cortes have appeared in 16 games each as freshmen, with Staines starting three games and Cortes starting one. No other freshmen have appeared in more than seven games for the Blue & White in 2016.
Scouting the Griffs
Canisius comes into today's game winners of 10 of their last 11 games, with the only loss coming to No. 4 Syracuse. Offensively Erica Evans, the 2016 MAAC Midfielder of the Year, leads the Griffs with 100 career goals. The defense, led by Co-Defensive Player of the Year goalie Rebecca VanLaeken, is allowing 8.26 goals per contest, which is the lowest in school history.
Today's Broadcast Information
Today's game will be aired on ESPN3 in high definition. Matt Reitnour will handle the play by play duties while Andy Helwig is the analyst.
