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NIAGARA UNIV. — The Purple Eagles women’s lacrosse team returns to Niagara Field on Monday after a three-game road trip in which the team picked up a pair of wins over the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers and the Stetson Hatters. Sitting first in the MAAC at 3-2, Niagara prepares for its first-ever matchup with the Yale Bulldogs on home field.
Originally scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday, the Niagara-Yale contest has been moved up two hours to a noon opening draw due to expected inclement winter weather in the Buffalo area.
The Purple Eagles split a two-game set in Florida last week, battling in a close-fought 12-8 loss to Atlantic Sun power Jacksonville before picking up a 16-14 win over Stetson. At Jacksonville on March 8, Niagara fell behind 10-4 early in the second period before rattling off a three-goal run to cut the deficit in half. Alexis Morales started the run before Grace Hunt set up goals by Rachel MacCheyne and Morales to make it 10-7. MacCheyne was able to score once more for the Purple Eagles, but the Jacksonville Dolphins pushed through for the 12-8 win. Morales led Niagara scorers with four goals in the game. At the defensive end, Kara Martin had a career-high six ground balls and four caused turnovers. Alexandra Higgins collected seven draw controls, and Amy McNally got three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Niagara’s offense broke out at Stetson for its second-highest goal output in a game this season, defeating the Hatters by a score of 16-14. Higgins collected a career-high 11 draw controls in the win, giving her 18 for the week and 31 in five games this season. Hunt led all scorers with two goals and five assists, while MacCheyne and Caroline Crump each scored four goals. Crump had a season-high with five points (4+1).
At the offensive end, Niagara leads the MAAC in scoring offense with 13.4 goals for per game (61 in five games). With seven goals and 17 assists in five games, junior Grace Hunt leads the MAAC with 4.8 points per game. Hunt made the 2015 MAAC All-Rookie Team with 21 points (8+13) in her freshman campaign. Hunt currently ranks seventh in Niagara program history with 32 career assists. Sophomores Rachel MacCheyne and Alexis Morales are tied for second on Niagara with 19 points and tied for the team lead with 17 goals. Defensively, the Purple Eagles have four players averaging more than two ground balls per game. Kara Martin leads the team with 18 ground balls this season, followed by Andrea Francisco (16), Alexandra Higgins (13), and Jillian Ford (12). Martin also leads the Purple Eagles with 11 caused turnovers, followed by Ford at 10 and Higgins at nine. With 31 draw controls in five games, Higgins ranks among the top-10 in the NCAA with 6.2 draw controls per game played. She set a career-high with 64 draw controls in 18 games last season en route to Second Team All-MAAC honors. In goal, Andrea Francisco has 43 saves in five games, recording a 10.53 goals-against average and .453 save percentage.
Niagara hosts Yale for the first-ever matchup between the Purple Eagles and Bulldogs. Yale is 2-0 against MAAC teams so far this season, scoring wins over Quinnipiac (21-3 on Feb. 21) and Marist (19-10 on Feb. 28). Seniors Hope Hanley (17+19) and Tess McEvoy (19+8) lead the Bulldogs in scoring with 36 and 27 points, respectively. Madeleine Gramigna leads Yale with 12 ground balls in six games, followed by McEvoy (11) and Victoria Moore (10). McEvoy also has a Bulldogs team-high 14 caused turnovers. Gramigna also leads Yale with 26 draw controls this season, while sophomore Izzy Nixon has 24. Junior Sydney Marks is 3-2 in goal with a 10.49 goals-against average and .403 save percentage.
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