BUFFALO, NY- Monmouth University women's lacrosse team (12-8) fell to top-seeded Canisius College (13-6) in the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship, falling 17-5 to the Griffs on Sunday.

Canisius sprinted out to a 10-1 lead in the first half which proved to be too much for the Hawks to overcome. The Golden Griffins outshot Monmouth 24-17 in the contest and won 13 of the 23 draw controls while going 7-of-9 on free position attempts.

Seniors Marial Pierce (Middleburg, VA/St. John's Catholic Prep) and Caroline Huelster (Mount Laurel, NJ/Lenape) and sophomore Caroline Corbliss (Marriottsville, MD/Marriotts Ridge) were each named to the MAAC All-Tournament Team.

The Griffs dominated the first half of play, scoring in spurts to build a 10-0 lead. MAAC Rookie of the Year Jourdan Roemer tallied a pair of free position goals over a 37 second span. Taylor Giglio and Erica Evans scored the next five goals and Canisius led 7-0. Roemer tallied the next two goals before Evans' goal with 4:08 left pushed the lead to 10-0. Junior Carly Sane (Clifton,VA/Centreville) broke the scoring open for the Hawks, scooping a loose rebound past the Canisius defense.

In the first 30 minutes, Canisius held a 16-7 advantage in shots and was 5-of-7 on free position attempts to take the nine goal lead.

Smith scored a free position goal with 25:43 left in the second half but Canisius responded with three consecutive goals to place the scoring at 13-3. Pierce made a move and ripped a shot high with 18:33 for her first goal of the game with just over 18 minutes remaining. Sane scored her second goal of the game, taking a feed from freshman Logan Smet (Rockville, MD/Academy of Holy Cross) to make the lead 15-5 with 9:01 to play. Canisius would score two late goals to give the home squad the 12 goal win.

Pierce finished with two goals, four draw controls, a ground ball and a caused turnover. Sane also had two goals and two ground balls in the contest.

Erica Evans had seven points on five goals and two assists while Jourdan Roemer had five goals. Senior Taylor Giglio had four goals while Allie Steward registered a hat trick.

Canisius, which has won five out of the last six MAAC Championships, will await the announcement of their next opponent until the NCAA selection show on Sunday evening.