NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. - A two-goal effort by freshman Jamie Raepple (Grand Island, N.Y.) helped to propel the Niagara women's soccer team (2-1-0) to a 3-1 victory over the visiting Cornell Big Red (0-1-1) in front of 402 fans at Niagara Field on Sunday afternoon.

The Grand Island product now has four goals in three games, something that is a result of all of her hard work.

"Everyday we work hard," Raepple said. "I'm so glad that I was able to have such a good game in front of my old high school team. It was a blast." 

The Purple Eagles are now 6-2 in home openers since 2002 in large part because of Raepple, who opened the scoring just 81 seconds into the game. Senior Chiara Greco (Hamilton, Ont.) served up a nice pass to sophomore Laura Kimoto (Scarborugh, Ont.) who sent a a nice pass to Raepple inside the box for the 1-0 lead.

Cornell would tie it a little over a minute later, but the rookie from Western New York was going to strike again. Greco sent a nice looping pass into the offensive zone, where Raepple received it, split the defenders and then put it past Big Red goalkeeper Megan Bartlett for the eventual game-winning goal, her second on the season.

Both teams traded chances in the second half, including two shots by senior Michelle Emery (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Kimoto that came awfully close to nudging the Purple Eagles farther ahead. Niagara would finally add an insurance marker in the 74th minute off of a free kick by Greco.

"I was happy with how the girls bounced back after Friday," head coach Peter Veltri said. "The girls showed a lot of heart and determination. This is a good step moving forward."

Niagara is back in action on Wednesday, when it takes on Big Four rival Buffalo at 7:30 p.m.