Buffalo, N.Y. (September 29, 2006)-- On a chilly night in western New York, the Lady Jaspers and Canisius College played to a 1-1 draw in the MAAC opener for both teams. For the Lady Jaspers, it was their first tie of the season, moving their record to 7-2-1 (0-0-1 MAAC), while Canisius' record moves to 3-7-1 (0-0-1 MAAC).
In their previous four games, the Lady Jaspers had fallen behind early, conceding the first goal of the game. In the 19th minute, forward Chrissy Reina reversed that trend, scoring her sixth goal of the season with
Alexandra Konneker notching the assist. Konneker fed Reina a pass that released her for a breakaway and fired a shot into the low right hand corner that beat Canisius goalie Jenna Gage. For Konneker it was her third assist of the season.
Manhattan was unable to maintain its lead however, as the Griffs answered back at the 35:04 mark when freshman Sylvia Kowalski ripped off a shot from 20 yards that beat Manhattan goalie
Alicia DeFino.
That would be the final goal of the game as chances became tough to come by.
A shot by Reina in the 65th minute that was saved by Gage would be Manhattan's best chance in the second half. In the first overtime, Canisius' Tricia McGibbon tried to come up with the winner, but
Caitlin Trupiano turned the shot away.
In the second extra frame, a shot by Amanda Janosky was saved by Trupiano to preserve the tie.
Manhattan was out shot by Canisius 17-8; Manhattan's goalkeeping was splendid again, DeFino made three saves in the first half, and Trupiano, made two saves in the second half and both overtimes. Reina had a strong game as she came up with two shots on net while
Amanda Fischer had one.
Friday night's game was the third time this season Manhattan has gone to overtime. On opening day, Manhattan knocked off Central Connecticut 1-0 in double overtime. Against LaSalle in Philadelphia, the Lady Jaspers fell 2-1.
Manhattan continues its western New York swing on Sunday when they travel to Niagara University to take on the Purple Eagles in a MAAC game on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
