CHARLESTON, S.C. - Chelsea Phillips netted the tying and go-ahead goals early in the second half as Charleston Southern held on to win their opener in the Nike Tournament against Canisius, 5-3.

In a game that featured eight goals scored and a combined 34 shots in the contest, Charleston Southern was led by a trio of familiar names on the score sheet as Toni Lashley and Phillips each scored twice in the contest, while Chelsea Frankeny connected on her first goal of the season to pace the Bucs offense against the Canisius at Blackbaud Stadium.

"Tonight was one of those games where we had tons of excitement," commented CSU head coach Eric Terrill on the intensity of the game. "The momentum swung back and forth all game. We started up 2-0 and I thought we had the game in hand. Cansisus did a great job of fighting and tied it up in the first half and never quit."

Phillips and Frankeny each picked up assists for the Buccaneers in the contest, while Emma Faubert and Allison Lewis also had passes that led to goals for CSU.

"I think we have some really nice chemistry, especially in our offense," commented Terrill on the play up top. "Our offense played well tonight and we scored several goals and our defense played well too. Cansisus played an aggressive, attacking style with played with five in the middle. We are young in the back, but we keep getting better every game."

Dana McLaughlin picked up her second win of the season, stopping five shots between the pipes for the Buccaneers, while Charleston Southern launched 23 shots against Brigid St. Leger as the Bucs continually supplied pressure on the Golden Griffins' backline. St. Leger nearly proved up to the task, making seven saves in the contest, but it was not enough to stop CSU in picking up their second win of the season.

Charleston Southern improves to 2-1 overall on the year, while Canisius falls to 1-3 with the loss.

The Buccaneers wasted little time in the first 10 minutes of the game as Lashley connected on her first shot of the contest after receiving the cross from Phillips. Lashley pushed the ball past the goalkeeper and angled her shot into the bottom right corner of the net. The defensive pursuit proved to be too late and the ball crossed the line at the 9:09 mark to put the Bucs ahead 1-0.

Four minutes later Lashley struck again, this time off the pass from Emma Faubert to stake CSU to the 2-0 lead. The pass was knifed up the middle and Lashley again dodged St. Leger's challenge and put the ball into the back of the net from the top of the box at the 13:23 mark to double the Bucs' lead.

Canisius wasted little time in striking back on their first shot attempt of the contest at the 16:23 mark. Mallory Illsley launched the corner kick in from the left wing and found the head of Sabrina Fitzgerald as the midfielder drove the ball past McLaughlin into the net to halve the game at 2-1.

10 minutes later Brianna Smith knotted the game up as the senior forward connected beat McLaughlin to the ball and bent a shot into the top left corner of the net from the top of the box to tie the game up at 2-2 at the 26:44 mark in the game.

Anna Sells nearly connected on her first goal of the season in the first half as the freshman forward drilled an attempt toward the net at the 32:45 mark, but a sliding save by St. Leger kept the Bucs off the board and sent the teams into the half with the 2-2 tie intact.

The excitement of the first half rolled into the second half as Smith scored for the second time in the game with her third goal of the season to put the Golden Griffins ahead 3-2.

Canisius's go-ahead goal came on the opening possession as Katie Griffin crossed the ball into the box and Smith headed the ball into the upper left corner of the net from 12 yards out at the 45:57 mark to give the Golden Griffins their first lead of the game.

The lead proved to be short-lived, however as Phillips knifed through the Canisius defense twice in four minutes, tying the game at the 46:32 mark with her first goal of the contest, and the redshirt sophomore added the game winning goal at the 50:17 mark, receiving a pass from Frankeny with no one around her in the box and drilled it into the net to give the Bucs a lead they would not relinquish.

"I felt really good," commented Phillips on the game this afternoon. "I didn't play very much last season so it was nice to go out and prove that I actually could play soccer. [Toni] is my right hand man and I can really count on her. I know that if I can get it to her, or she gets it to me, we can do something special with it."

Frankeny added an insurance goal late in the game, intercepting a pass back to the keeper and finishing into the open net with her left foot at the 88:35 mark to seal the Bucs second win in a row.

Charleston Southern remains at home on Sunday afternoon as the Buccaneers welcome the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State, with kickoff at Blackbaud set for 2 p.m.