NIAGARA UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — The Niagara men’s soccer team is preparing for a big weekend, as it gets set to host the inaugural Western New York Little 3 Cup on Sunday. Games featuring matchups with local rivals Canisius and St. Bonaventure will be played throughout the day at Niagara Field.
The festivities will begin at 10 a.m. with an alumni game featuring several former Purple Eagles players, including Joe Kirlin (’70), all-time leading scorer Joe Casucci (’73), Andrew Ferguson (’16) and all four outgoing seniors, Omar Cruz, Joel Gerberich, Sergio Lujan and Konrad Zydowicz.
Following the alumni game, the Niagara, Canisius, and St. Bonaventure squads will play a set of round-robin games to determine the champion of the Little 3 Cup. The first game will take place at 11:30 a.m. and feature the Purple Eagles and the Golden Griffins. The Griffs will then take on the Bonnies at 12:45 p.m., before St. Bonaventure and Niagara close out the day at 2 p.m. Each game will be 60 minutes long, split into 30 minute halves.
This iteration of the Little 3 Cup revives a longstanding tradition in area soccer. Each of the three schools, along with the University at Buffalo, competed for the “Big Four Shield” during the fall prior to the 2017 season. The spring games will be hosted by a different school each year and allow the winner to collect its bragging rights all at once while also preparing squads for the fall season.
Following the competition, the Niagara soccer team will host a dinner for its current and former players.
