QU Women’s Lacrosse Falls to Niagara in MAAC Opener, 11-6

Saturday, March 26

Niagara Field - Niagara Falls, NY

12:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

2-6, 0-1MAAC

Niagara

5-4, 1-0MAAC

Quinnipiac

Niagara

QU Women’s Lacrosse Falls to Niagara in MAAC Opener, 11-6

3/26/2016 3:13:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

NIAGARA UNIV., New York – A slow start that saw Niagara jump out to a four-goal halftime lead proved too much to overcome for the Quinnipiac women's lacrosse team as the Bobcats fell to the Purple Eagles, 11-6, in the 2016 MAAC opener for both teams at the Niagara Field.

With the loss, Quinnipiac drops to 2-6 on the season and 0-1 in MAAC play while Niagara wins their fourth straight game to improve to 5-4 overall with a 1-0 mark in league play.

Trailing 6-2 at the half, Quinnipiac came out with some fire to start the second half as the Bobcats punched home two goals in the opening 2:19 of the half to lower the deficit to just 6-4 with nearly an entire half to play.

As Niagara effectively centered their defensive gameplan on stopping the Bobcats' leading scorer Aileen Carey (Long Beach, New York), Kathleen DeVito (Glastonbury, Connecticut) took advantage of the softer defensive coverage as she tallied two goals including the opening goal for the Bobcats in the second half. Just over a minute later, freshman Ellie Swenson (Ipswich, Massachusetts) followed with an authoritative drive from the top was she threw both fists in the air to try and light a fire under her team in their comeback attempt.

A crucial set of possessions followed the Swenson goal as the Bobcats secure the ensuing draw control and were looking to make it a 3-0 run and lower the gap to just one goal but three straight Quinnipiac turnovers opened the door for Niagara who answered the pressure with a goal that ignited a game-clinching 3-0 run for the Purple Eagles.

After scoring two goals in less than 2:30 of the second half, Quinnipiac's offense was held scoreless for the following 16+ minutes. Cara O'Meally (Bay Shore, New York) broke the slump with her second goal of the season and Allison Kuhn (Kingsville, Maryland) followed with her eighth tally of 2016 to make it 9-6 with 5:16 remaining.

Niagara opened the door for a potential late backdoor comeback from the Bobcats but the next two possession for Quinnipiac ended in a turnover and save from Niagara. The Purple Eagles then closed the door with two near empty net goals as the Bobcats were doubling the ball for the final two minutes of play.

Transition offense was a key trend throughout as Niagara went 14-for-16 in their clear attempts while Quinnipiac struggled throughout going just 12-for-22. Ground balls also heavily favored the Purple Eagles (32-19) while a dominating 16-7 edge in shots for the first half helped lead to a 29-17 shot advantage for Niagara in the game.

DeVito finished with two goals to extend her point scoring streak to five games while she chipped in her second multi-goal game in 2016.

On the defensive end, Kiera Kelly (West Islip, New York) was sensational once again as she tallied seven ground balls (one off her career-high) while also adding one caused turnover. Kelly continues to lead the MAAC in ground balls (28) and ground balls per game (3.50) as well as caused turnovers (18) and caused turnovers per game (2.25).

Kyle Larkin (Holbrook, New York) was steady throughout, keeping her team in the game with nine saves on 20 shots on goal while she also added four ground balls.

Caroline Crump was a thorn in the side for the Bobcats all afternoon as she finished with three goals and one assist while Danielle Maio posted three goals and Hailey D'Hont added one goal and three assists for the Purple Eagles.

Quinnipiac returns home for the Bobcats' 2016 non-conference finale against Central Connecticut State on Wednesday, March 30 at 3 PM.