NIAGARA UNIV. — After a pair of road matches last week against Saint Peter’s and Fairfield, the Purple Eagles men’s soccer team returns to Niagara Field this weekend for a matchup with Iona on Saturday. Niagara and Iona are tied at 2-4 in MAAC play and look to move up the standings and earn a berth in the MAAC Championship. The game is scheduled to kick off from Niagara Field at 7:00 p.m.
Niagara is headed into the weekend match off of a win at Fairfield last Saturday, 2-1. The first half of the match was controlled by the Stags who outshot the Purple Eagles 7-0, but the match headed into halftime notched at 0-0. Steve Casey made a crucial save against Fairfield early in the second half but was unable to keep them out any longer as he surrendered the first goal of the game in the 59th minute. Casey came up big twice more after the Stags took the lead to keep the game at 1-0 heading into the final quarter hour of play. Niagara’s first shot of the game came in the 81st minute, and it resulted in a goal by freshman back Borna Juracic when he collected a loose ball in the box and placed it in the lower corner past the outstretched goalkeeper. Saiaz Saenz scored the game-winning goal in the 86th minute after he collected a bouncing ball just outside the box and rifled it home from 20 yards out. Casey came up big one last time with two minutes to play as he cancelled out the Stag’s leading scorer to maintain the comeback victory for Niagara. He made a total of five saves in the match.
Niagara boasts one of the MAAC’s stingiest defenses, ranking fifth in the conference in both scoring defense (1.28 goals against per game) and total goals against (17). After redshirting the 2015 season due to injury, Steve Casey has started all but one game in goal this year. Casey has a 1.36 goals-against average and .733 save percentage which rank fifth and seventh in the MAAC between all goalkeepers, respectively. Casey has kept a clean sheet in three matches which is tied for third most in the conference. Casey averages 3.67 saves per match, the sixth-highest mark in the MAAC. Mackenzie Roach leads Niagara scorers with five points on two goals and one assist. He earned the season’s first MAAC Rookie of the Week honor after scoring two goals in the season opener at Robert Morris on Aug. 26.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
