Soccer Game Preview: St. Mary's vs. Canisius

St. Mary hasn't had much luck against Canisius recently, but that could start to change on Monday. The Lancers will head out on the road to challenge the Crusaders at 3:00 p.m. Both teams are coming into the match red-hot, with St. Mary's sitting on three straight wins and Canisius on 13.

St. Mary's is on a roll after a high-stakes playoff matchup on Thursday. They never let St. Francis get on the board and left with a 3-0 victory. Considering St. Mary's have won eight contests by more than two goals this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.

Matthew Tulshi and Jack Lewandowski scored all three of St. Mary's goals, bringing their combined season tally to 27 goals.

Meanwhile, Canisius faced East Aurora in a battle between two of the state's top teams last Thursday. The Crusaders blew past the Blue Devils 3-0. Canisius are also no stranger to big wins: their blowout was the eighth matchup they've won by 3+ goals this season.

Canisius' lineup was just a bit different last Thursday as Halim Habib got a bit more time on the pitch (80 vs. his season average of 44.5). Habib made the most of the opportunity, putting up one assist and seven steals A few more games like that and he might be seeing even more time going forward.

St. Mary's win bumped their record up to 10-6-1. As for Canisius, their victory bumped their record up to 13-1-1.

St. Mary's suffered a grim 5-0 defeat to Canisius in their previous meeting on October 3rd. Can the Lancers avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.