Niagara women’s soccer held to 2-2 draw at Canisius

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Niagara Purple Eagles built a 2-0 lead at archrival Canisius before the host rallied to score two goals in two minutes as the contest ended in a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night.  
 
SYNOPSIS 
The latest edition of the Battle of the Bridge series was a tale of two halves. The Purple Eagles thoroughly dominated play in the first half and eventually had a two-goal lead with 16 minutes remaining. Kelsey Araujo’s pace caused the Canisius backline problems all game as she consistently glided past her defenders to create scoring opportunities for herself and teammates. However, the Golden Griffins erased Niagara’s lead with two quick goals. In the final 34 minutes, neither team could find the winner.
 
MOMENTS

• The Purple Eagles started the game on the attack immediately, leading to a Kelsey Araujoshot that narrowly missed the back post.  
• In the 3^rd minute, Araujo ripped a shot in the box that forced a save.
• In the 8^th minute, Araujo skipped around her defender to the byline and her pass found Annie Ibey, but the freshman’s effort went over the goal.
• Veda Hensel unleashed a long range shot which resulted in a corner kick in the 11^th minute.
• Niagara was rewarded for its dominance with a goal in the 24^th minute. Araujo sent in a corner kick and Amelia Gulley headed home her first career goal to give the Purple Eagles a 1-0 lead.
• Araujo nearly doubled Niagara’ lead two minute later with another decent scoring opportunity denied by the Canisius keeper.
• In the 28^th minute, Hailey Bicknell created space in the box to get off a shot, but was it was saved.
• Araujo collected the ball at midfield, dribbled her way around defenders and had her shot in the box saved which led to a corner kick in the 39^th minute.
• Five minutes into the second half, the Purple Eagles made it 2-0. Bayley Sullivan stole the ball from the Canisius defender and slide her pass to Hailey Bicknell, who beat her defender and blasted a low strike past the keeper.
• Shania van Nuland made a fingertip save on a shot coming off a corner at the 52^nd minute.
• In the 62^nd minute, Hensel’s half volley in the box hit the crossbar.
• The Golden Griffins scored two goals in a two-minute span. Canisius was awarded with a penalty kick and scored from it in the 74^th minute.  
• Two minutes later, the Golden Griffins tied the game on a header from a cross.  
• Two minutes into overtime, Bicknell shot from 30 yards out narrowly missed the top corner.  
• Niagara had a 4 vs. 2 break, but was unable to score as Sullivan shot went over the goal.
• In the final seconds, Araujo nearly scored the winning goal but her shot was cleared off the line.

 
EAGLE’S EYE ON…

• Amelia Gulley scored her first career goal in her 69^th career game.  
• Hailey Bicknell netted her fourth goal of the season, which is a new career-high.
• Kelsey Araujo had her third assists on the season, which is new career-high.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Niagara scored its first goal against Canisius in the last four meetings. The two goals are the most against the Golden Griffins since 2012, which was also the last time the teams played to a draw in regulation.
• Niagara had a 27-10 shot advantaged. The 27 shots are the second most this season and the 10 shots on goal are the most.

 
UP NEXT

• The Purple Eagles host Saint Peter’s on Saturday, October 13 at 12 p.m.

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