Fourth-seeded Niagara Purple Eagles will play top-seeded Iona in the MAAC Tournament Semifinal on Friday at 7 p.m. from Lessing Field in Fairfield, Conn. The Purple Eagles return to the site where they defeated the MAAC Tournament hosts, the Fairfield Stags, 3-0 last Friday night.

We Meet Again
Niagara and Iona played each other last Sunday to conclude the regular season. Both teams had already clinched a spot in the MAAC Tournament, so several players had a chance to get some valuable playing time. Iona scored a late second half goal and Niagara came within inches of equalizing in the final 10 seconds. Iona claimed the number one seed, while Niagara finished fourth due to Fairfield win over Canisius.

Five-Star Niagara
This tournament trip marks the fifth-straight MAAC Tournament appearance for the Purple Eagles and the program's sixth appearance. Head coach Dermot McGrane, who became the all-time winningest coach in program history this season, has taken NU to six of the seven MAAC Tournaments.

In-Form Purple Eagles
Niagara is 3-1-1 in its last five matches, with its only blemish coming in a narrow 1-0 defeat to Iona in the last regular season game. The Purple Eagles have outscored their opponents 7-3 in the stretch, including beating archrival Canisius 2-1 in overtime and dropping Fairfield, 3-0.

Wire-to-Wire
Senior goalkeeper John Fiutowski has led the MAAC in saves and saves per game since the first whistle blew to start the season. The 6-4 keeper, who led the nation in saves per game last season, has once again proven to be a very difficult person to beat.  Fiutowski averages 6.39 saves per game and has 115 saves on the season, which are 51 more than the second place keeper.

Against the Gaels
All-time series - NU leads 10-9-1
First-ever MAAC Tournament meeting

Niagara is 10-9-1 all-time versus Iona, but have dominated the series this decade. Since 2000, the Purple Eagles are 8-1-1 versus the Gaels, including winning six-straight from 2000-05. In fact, the lona loss in the streak came last Sunday.