The Niagara Purple Eagles women’s lacrosse team has two games in Florida on the schedule this week to conclude a three-game road trip. Niagara, which has started the 2017 season at 2-1 and leads the MAAC in both scoring offense and scoring defense, takes on the Jacksonville Dolphins at 3 p.m. on Wednesday and the Stetson Hatters at 4 p.m. Friday.
Niagara picked up its second win of the season last Saturday with a 15-11 road victory against the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers. The Purple Eagles came out gunning on offense, racking up a 7-2 lead just 13 minutes into the contest. Rachel MacCheyne scored three goals in the opening run while Samantha Brill, Caroline Crump, Jillian Ford, and Grace Hunt rounded out the early goal scoring. Brill would add her second goal of the game on an assist from Hunt at the 15:03 mark, but the Mountaineers cut Niagara’s lead to 8-5 at the half. Niagara and Mount St. Mary’s traded two-goal runs throughout the vast majority of the second period. Alexis Morales opened the second period scoring before Crump’s second goal of the day made it 10-5 Niagara. After Sammie Knapp scored two goals separated by 1:13, Niagara held strong on defense over the next eight minutes, as MacCheyne scored twice in a row, bringing the score to 12-7 Niagara with 9:26 to play. Mount St. Mary’s outscored Niagara 4-3 down the stretch, but the Purple Eagles’ lead was large enough to hold up for the victory. Morales tallied a point on each of Niagara’s three goals in that span, assisting on goals by Ford and Hunt and scoring one of her own at the 6:20 mark.
Niagara earned its first MAAC weekly accolade of the season on Monday, March 6 as Rachel MacCheyne picked was named the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week. The sophomore from Webster, N.Y. scored two goals and one assist in an 11-10 home loss to Colgate before turning in a tremendous all-around game against Mount St. Mary’s. MacCheyne scored a game high five goals on six shots on goal against the Mountaineers, and she added two ground balls, two caused turnovers, and five draw controls.
Niagara Purple Eagles (2-1)
At the offensive end, Niagara is 25th in the country with 14.33 goals per game and FIFTH in the NCAA with 7.67 assists per game. Both figures lead the MAAC. Alexis Morales and Rachel MacCheyne are tied for the MAAC lead with 3.67 goals scored per game (11 in three games), while Grace Hunt leads the conference and ranks FOURTH in the NCAA with 3.33 assists per game (10 in three games). The trio of Hunt (5.00 points per game), MacCheyne (4.33 points per game), and Morales (4.33 points per game) are the conference’s top three players in points per game. On defense, the Purple Eagles also lead the MAAC in scoring defense, allowing nine goals per game. Niagara also leads the conference with 21 ground balls per game, 14 draw controls per game, and 12 caused turnovers per game. Goalkeeper Andrea Francisco is the MAAC’s leader in goals-against average (9.01) and save percentage (.480). Kara Martin (first, 3.33), Alexandra Higgins (third, 3.00), and Jillian Ford (fourth, 2.67) rank in the MAAC’s top five in ground balls per game. With 13 draw controls in three game, Higgins also ranks second in the MAAC in that category. Higgins was fourth in the MAAC and led Niagara with 64 draw controls per game.
Jacksonville Dolphins (1-3)
The Jacksonville women’s lacrosse team has won the Atlantic Sun regular-season title each of the last four seasons and advanced to the NCAA tournament three straight years from 2013 to 2015. After losses to Ohio State (13-12), Massachusetts (14-13) and Florida (21-14), the Dolphins earned their first win of the season over Davidson on March 5 by a score of 15-9. Senior Danielle Della Rocca leads Jacksonville with 13 goals and 15 points in four games this season. Lillie Miller and Parker Day each have a team-high four assists. Ashtyn Hiron and Hannah Wilcox both have a team-high seven ground balls and eight caused turnovers for the Dolphins, and Hiron leads Jacksonville with 19 draw controls. In goal, the Dolphins have split time between senior Mariah Cudlipp (0-2, 18.36 GAA, .353 SV%) and freshman Sydney Matthews (1-1, 10.90, .478).
Stetson Hatters (0-4)
Stetson has opened the 2017 season with four losses, two of which have come against nationally-ranked opponents, a Feb. 19 loss to No. 14 Colorado and a Feb. 26 loss to No. 3 USC. Sam McGuire leads the Hatters with seven goals this season, while Lindsay Summers holds the overall team scoring lead with 10 points (5+5) in four games.Goalkeeper Liza Diamond has a goals-against average of 19.50 and a save percentage of .257. She also leads Stetson with 15 ground balls. Maddie Holvey has a team-high 13 draw controls and Kathi Ricci leads the Hatters with caused turnovers.
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