When you contribute to the Blue & Gold Fund, you are helping develop the next generation of Golden Griffin champions. One hundred percent of your gift enhances the student experience. Give Canisius athletes the competitive edge and make your gift today!
Last year, more than 1,900 donors contributed more than $400,000 to the Blue and Gold Athletics Fund, providing essential funding that impacted our programs in the areas of scholarships, coaching excellence, recruiting and team travel, helping our 381 student-athletes excel in the classroom and on the field of competition.
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Because of donors' support, we celebrated several program highlights during the 2021-22 year, including:
• The softball team captured the program’s 13th Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) title and made its ninth NCAA Tournament appearance, competing in the Gainesville Regional against nationally-ranked Florida and Wisconsin. Graduate outfielder Erin Hufford was named MAAC Player of the Year while sophomore pitcher Megan Giese was tabbed both the MAAC Pitcher of the Year and MAAC Championship Most Valuable Player. Freshman infielder Saige Alfaro was named MAAC Rookie of the Year. In addition, all three players garnered NFCA All-Region honors.
• The baseball team claimed its fourth MAAC championship in the last 10 seasons and made its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in June, squaring off against national powers Miami and Arizona in the Coral Gables Regional. Sophomore second baseman Max Grant, the MAAC Player of the Year, was tabbed an All-American by two publications, while freshman relief pitcher Peyton Consigli earned MAAC Pitcher and Rookie of the Year accolades to go along with a pair of Freshman All-America honors.
• Canisius had a total of four student-athletes – Max Grant (baseball), Erin Hufford (softball), Michael Peppy (cross country/track) and Mike Steffan (baseball) – earn Academic All-District distinction from the Collegiate Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). In addition, Steffan was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American. A first-team pick at the designated hitter position, Steffan is the eighth Golden Griffin baseball player and the first since the 2015 season to earn the distinction.
• The Canisius hockey team posted a second-place finish in the Atlantic Hockey regular-season standings, giving the team its third fourth top-two finish during the regular season in the last six campaigns. Juniors Jacob Barczewski (first team), Keaton Mastrodonato (second team) and David Melaragni (third team) each garnered All-Atlantic Hockey Association accolades.
• The women’s basketball team pulled a historic upset when it became the first 11 seed to win a game in the MAAC Women’s Basketball Championship, defeating No. 6 Monmouth in first-round action. Sophomore guard Dani Haskell was an All-MAAC Third Team selection while Athena Lexa was a unanimous MAAC All-Rookie Team pick.
• Graduate student Sage Pollack and freshman Archie Minto both posted first-place finishes during the 2022 MAAC Swimming and Diving Championships. Pollack became the first Canisius female to sweep the 50 and 100 free events at the conference championship and just the third to win multiple events at a championship meet. Minto took first in the 200-fly, establishing a program record in the process.
• Golfers Mike Donner and Shane Broad each earned All-MAAC honors at the 2022 MAAC Golf Championship in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., as they finished tied for fifth place with three-round scores of 219. The fifth-place effort for both Donner and Broad stands as the best conference championship finish for a Canisius golfer since former Griff David Hanes placed third in 2017. The duo also became just the third and fourth Canisius golfers since 2013 to place in the top-five at the MAAC Golf Championship.
• A total of 45 Canisius student-athletes were named to their respective all-conference teams during the 2021-22 academic year, highlighted by five players winning a total of six major individual awards
• The Canisius Athletic Department enjoyed another solid semester in the classroom all 20 of its varsity programs posted a team grade point average of 3.0 or better during the 2022 spring semester. Seventeen teams posted a team GPA of 3.25 or higher, while the school's 376 student-athletes combined to post a department grade point average of 3.45 for the term.
• The spring semester also saw 66 student-athletes earn a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Those 66 student-athletes were part of a group of 309 Canisius student-athletes to record a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better. That breaks down to 82.0 percent of the College's student-athlete population.
Thank you in advance for supporting the Blue & Gold Fund and our students!