CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cleveland State (1-2) upended Canisius (0-5) 18-12 in their home opener on Saturday afternoon.
Prior to the game, the Green and White honored their ten seniors for all their contributions to the program; Karson Burkey, Connor Zwagerman, Zachary Galovich, Brendan Sigurdson, Ian McKissick, Charlie Williams, Whit Stopak, Cameron Logan, Tanner Cox, and Colin Willis.
Cleveland State took their first lead of the season on an unassisted goal by Gannon Matthews just 58 seconds into the contest. Canisius answered back with five straight goals to take a 5-1 advantage with 4:05 remaining in the quarter.
Brendan Sigurdson halted the run with an unassisted tally at the 3:21 mark, but the Golden Griffs got the goal back 40 seconds later as their lead stood at 6-2.
The final goal of the quarter came from Ryan Haigh off a feed from Joe DeDonatis as the Green and White trailed 6-3.
The Vikings started the second quarter quickly with four answered goals to reclaim a 7-6 advantage with 8:13 to go in the half. Amiri Austin started and ended the run while Matthews and DeDonatis each found the back of the net.
Canisius evened the game at eight apiece with a Collin Kelly goal at the 4:17 mark. However, Sigurdson completed his hat-trick off a pass from Austin to give Cleveland State a 9-8 lead at halftime.
R. Haigh found the back of the net at the 11:53 mark off a pass from Matthews to extend the margin to 10-8. The Golden Griffs then scored their only goal of the quarter with 10:34 showing to trail 10-9.
Cleveland State ran off the next three goals to lead 13-9 with one quarter remaining in regulation. R. Haigh had the first and third tally with Matthews in between.
The teams exchanged goals to open the final quarter before Matthews and Gavin Held scored back-to-back, increasing the advantage to 16-11 with 7:03 to go.
Canisius scored for the final time at the 5:27 mark to trail the Vikings 16-12. R. Haigh and Sigurdson then scored consecutive goals as Cleveland State won their home opener and senior day game, 18-12.
R. Haigh paced the offense with five goals while Sigurdson and Matthews finished four tallies apiece. Matthews also finished with a game-best seven points on four goals and three assists.
The Vikings were 21-of-33 in the faceoff circle with Charlie Williams and Robbie Stewart winning nine apiece. Williams scooped up a game-best six ground balls. Cameron Logan recorded his first win of the year in goal after making four saves.
Cleveland State now hits the road for St. Bonaventure on Saturday, March 11 with a 1 p.m. faceoff.
