April 15, 2009

Final Stats

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. - Siena scored four goals in the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter, creating some distance from Canisius, and defeated them 12-9 Wednesday afternoon at Siena Turf Field. It was Siena's fifth consecutive win and leaves them as the only undefeated team in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference standings at 5-0.

Siena (7-5, 5-0) took a 2-0 lead just over two minutes into the game. Senior Chris Zarins set the tone with his 13th goal of the season off a feed from Ryan Duggan less than a minute in. Canisius (3-7, 2-4) won the ensuing face-off but turned it over in Siena's end. Kenny Mazzone picked up the ground ball and threw it to Bryan Hale on the break who went straight down the field and scored. Nick LoCoco got the Griffins going as he scored their first goal of the game and assisted on two others in the first period.

Canisius jumped ahead 4-3 with 56 seconds left in the first quarter, but the Saints won the face-off and Mazzone tied the game 4-4 with eight seconds left. Siena had its worst game of the season at the face-off X, winning just 8-of-25 (32%).

Jimmy Haney put Canisius up 5-4 at the 13:21 mark of the second quarter, but Ryan Duggan scored on a jump shot from the left side to tie it and then scored the go-ahead goal three minutes later. Siena went into halftime with a 6-5 lead.

Haney struck again at the start of the second half, tying the game 6-6 with his third goal of the game. Siena scored two goals to regain the lead. They took an 8-7 lead into the final period.

The Saints took the game over in the fourth quarter. Zarins and Neufeld both scored off Canisius turnovers to take a 10-7 lead, their largest of the game to that point. Neufeld's goal came off the work of senior defenseman Dan Mulhall. Siena had trouble clearing it and Mulhall dodged his man at midfield and heaved a pass to Neufeld who was marked by a defender and the goalie 10 yards in front of the crease. He caught it, turned and shot it in the open net. Neufeld scored on another nifty play four minutes later. Freshman Chris D'Alberti ripped a shot that was saved by goalie Bryan Jack, but Neufeld got to the loose ball in front of the cage and from his knees flipped it backhand into the net.

Siena held a 12-7 lead until 1:04 left in the game. They were man-up but turned it over and Canisius went right down the field and scored. The Golden Griffins tallied another goal less than 20 seconds later after winning the face-off, but the deficit was too much to overcome.

Brent Herbst made 11 saves in the victory. He is 2-0 against Canisius in his career with an 8.00 GAA and a .610 save percentage. He missed last year's loss at Canisius due to injury.

Zarins (2 G, 2 A) and Duggan (2 G, 2 A) both finished with four points. Duggan's two goals and two assists counted as his 99th, 100th, 101st and 102nd career points. He is the 19th player in school history to score 100 career points.

Siena returns to action Saturday when they host Mount Saint Mary's at Siena Turf Field. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. Siena's 16 seniors will be honored in a postgame ceremony immediately following the game.