NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – The Niagara University women’s soccer team (8-7-3, 6-2-1) lost to Loyola College (10-8-1, 8-0-1), 2-1, Sunday at Niagara Field in the Purple Eagles’ final home game of the regular season.
In muddy field conditions and a constant rain throughout the contest, Niagara immediately attacked the Greyhound defense, hitting two posts early in the first half. However, Loyola scored two-straight goals early in the second half to put the Purple Eagles down two goals with 30 minutes remaining in the game.
"I was proud of the way the girls played. They (Niagara) played hard," Purple Eagles head coach Peter Veltri said.
In the 57th minute, Loyola defender Lindsay Tracey, following a scramble in the Niagara penalty box, hit a high shot into the upper-left corner of the Niagara net, giving the visiting Greyhounds a 1-0 lead. Just two minutes later, Greyhound midfielder Katie Elliot hit a low-driven shot past Niagara sophomore goalkeeper Katy Owings (Annapolis, Md.), to put the deficit at two goals.
Niagara senior forward Rosie Luzak (Youngstown, N.Y.) beat Loyola goalkeeper Kate Gilifillan, hitting a sliding shot into an open Loyola net to score her 11th goal of the season and left the Purple Eagles down a goal with just five minutes remaining in the contest.
With a little over two minutes remaining in the game, Luzak drove to the Loyola goal, beating two Greyhound defenders, and fired a shot at the lower-left corner of the Loyola net. A diving save by Gilfillan denied Luzak and the Purple Eagles of the equalizing goal, preserving the victory for the Greyhounds.
Loyola outshot Niagara in the game, 20-11. Gilifillan made eight saves for the Greyhounds in the win, her sixth of the season. Owings made eight saves for the Purple Eagles.
"Those two early posts that we hit came back to haunt us," Veltri said. "I think we proved to ourselves we can play with them (Loyola) and if we played them in the (MAAC) championship game, we’ll be ready."
With the win, Loyola clinched the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, held in Lawrenceville, N.J., at Rider University Nov. 7-9. Niagara, which suffered two consecutive losses to close the regular season, looks to regroup when it faces Fairfield University Friday at Rider Campus Field.
In the regular season meeting between the two schools, the Purple Eagles defeated the Stags, 2-1, in overtime. Freshman forward Michelle Del Monte (Mississauga, Ont.) and sophomore defender Amber Niece (Port Colbourne, Ont.) had goals in the victory.
