NIAGARA UNIV. — After a dominating 18-5 win over the St. Bonaventure Bonnies to open the season on Feb. 20, the Niagara women’s lacrosse team hosts Colgate to wrap up the season’s first month this week. The Purple Eagles and Raiders are slated for a 3 p.m. start on Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Niagara Field. Colgate comes to Monteagle Ridge for their second straight game against a MAAC opponent, following a 16-8 home win over the Siena Saints on Saturday.
A balanced offensive attack and a stingy defense led Niagara to an 18-5 win over the St. Bonaventure Bonnies in the team’s season opener on Feb. 20. Niagara scored 18 goals for the first time since April 2015, and the team won by their largest margin of victory since defeating Howard 23-5 on March 8, 2009. Nine different players scored for Niagara in the win. Three different players scored at least five points, as Grace Hunt (2+4), Rachel MacCheyne (4+1), and Alexis Morales (5+0) led the attack. Defensively, Niagara collected 26 ground balls and caused 18 turnovers in addition to winning 16 of 24 draws.
Preseason All-MAAC Team member Alexandra Higgins opened the season with four ground balls, four draw controls, and four caused turnovers. At midfield, Jillian Ford scored two goals and one assist in addition to getting two ground balls, four draw controls, and three caused turnovers. Andrea Francisco made seven saves on 11 shots to pick up the win in goal, and Aubrey DeVeau made one stop on two shots against in just under seven minutes to close the game. St. Bonaventure opened the game with a 2-1 lead, but a pair of goals from Morales sparked an 8-0 Niagara run over a stretch of 21 minutes, putting Niagara up 9-2 late in the first period. Senior Hannah Vause scored her first career goal with 5:21 left in the period as a part of that run. The Purple Eagles outscored the Bonnies 8-2 in the second period, with seven different scorers finding the back of the net. Freshmen Audrey Fithall and Alexandra Leo scored the first goals of their collegiate careers.
Niagara’s 18 goals for and five goals against versus St. Bonaventure are the best marks by a MAAC team in any game this season. Rachel MacCheyne’s 11 shots and Grace Hunt’s four assists are tied for a single-game conference high. Hunt leads Niagara in scoring with six points on two goals and four assists. MacCheyne (4+1) and Alexis Morales (5+0) are tied for second at five points. Alexandra Higgins leads Niagara with four ground balls, while Caroline Crump, Kara Martin, and Amy McNally each collected three in the season opener. Higgins, who ranked fourth in the MAAC last season with 64 draw controls, earned four in the season opener, tied with Jillian Ford for the team lead. Higgins (four) and Ford (three) also lead the Purple Eagles in caused turnovers.
Colgate opens its 2017 road schedule Tuesday at Niagara after beginning the season with three home games. The Raiders picked up its second win of the season on Saturday, doubling up MAAC opponent Siena by a score of 16-8. Colgate opened the season with a 14-11 victory over Vermont (Feb. 18) while falling 16-12 on Feb. 22 against the Binghamton Bearcats. In the first all-time meeting between Niagara and Colgate last season, the teams battled back and forth before the Raiders sealed the game in overtime for an 11-10 home victory. Junior Haley O’Hanlon leads the Raiders with 12 goals and 15 points in three games, and is tied for the team lead with three assists. Senior Isabel Kreitler is second on the team with eight goals and nine points. Asil Asfour has started all three games in goal for Colgate, going 2-1 with a goals-against average of 11.67 and a save percentage of .364.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
