LEXINGTON, Va. – Looking to send the 2015 seniors off with a victory in the home finale, the Virginia Military Institute lacrosse team came up on the short end as Canisius College earned a 20-6 win over the Keydets Sunday afternoon at Drill Field 2.
The matchup with the Golden Griffins (3-11) marked the final home game for senior cadets Mike DeBlasio, Evan Windisch, Eric Groleau, Tyler Prasnicki, Brad Biondello and Ty Trobridge as they were honored before the game.
"I was very impressed with how hard our players rallied on senior day," said VMI head coach Brian Anken. "There were some great performances by all of our seniors unfortunately overshadowed by some breakdowns that led to a flurry of goals for Canisius."
Similar to Friday night's game versus High Point, the Keydets (0-14, 0-7) fell behind early with Canisius grabbing a quick 6-0 lead midway through the opening period before VMI's DeBlasio scored at the 4:21 mark. The Golden Griffins would score two more before the second period and went on to score seven unanswered goals in the second quarter to go into the break with a 15-1 lead.
The Keydets came out strong in the second half, outscoring Canisius 5-3 in the third period. After a Griffin goal, VMI's Colby Lalicker won the faceoff and took it to the Canisius net unassisted to give the Keydets a spark and cut the deficit to 16-2. Minutes later, VMI scored four unanswered goals as Biondello, Dan Bull (2) and Groleau found the back of the cage to shift the momentum.
Canisius settled down in the fourth quarter to score two security goals and did not allow anotherKeydet run to finish the game with the 20-6 win.
The Griffins' Billy Jacobbi and Tim Edwards scored three goals apiece to lead Canisius while Austin Romantic and Jeff Edwards each scored two. Goalie Alex Govenettio won his third game of the year for Canisius while the Keydets' Evan Windisch picked up the loss despite six saves during the game.
VMI concludes the 2015 season with a neutral site matchup against UMass Lowell on Sunday, Apr. 26, hosted by Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The first faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
