The Purple Eagles men’s soccer team concludes the 2016 regular season with a matchup against rival Canisius on Wednesday night. With the Battle of the Bridge match slated to kickoff at 7:00 pm, Niagara will look to send off their three seniors with a victory against the cross-town rivals. Niagara has won three of the last five matches between these two teams at Niagara Field, while Canisius heads into Wednesday’s contest on a four-match unbeaten run (3-0-1).
The Purple Eagles scraped out a 1-0 victory over Manhattan on Saturday afternoon. In a game filled with physical play from the opening whistle, it was the Purple Eagles who gained early momentum as they finished the half with an 8-2 shot advantage over the Jaspers. Niagara had two early chances in the game, first with Zulfikar Karimi who had a shot sail over the bar from 20 yards out. Bautista Pedezert took a set piece from similar positioning seven minutes later but also saw his shot rise over the bar. The persistent Purple Eagles finally broke through in the 36th minute. Fabrizio Chiari beat multiple players on his own on the left sideline before dribbling in towards the box. He played a ball through the backline to a streaking Saiaz Saenz who beat the goalkeeper low far-post. Steve Casey made a pair of saves towards the end of the half to help Niagara maintain a 1-0 lead at halftime.
The Jaspers best chance of the game came in the 72nd minute when Fabian Burnett rang a header off the crossbar. He took four of Manhattan’s nine shots in the half.
The Jaspers’ final opportunity came in the dying seconds of the game as Troy Carrington collected a loose ball inside of Niagara’s six yard box but saw his final shot blocked by Borna Juracic.
Casey recorded his fourth clean sheet of the season.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
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