Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - In a battle between the top two teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), the second-place Niagara women's soccer team (6-9-0; 4-2-0 MAAC) dropped a 3-0 decision to the host Marist Red Foxes (11-5-0; 6-1-0 MAAC) on Friday evening.

After playing the first half to a scoreless draw, Marist would get on the board early in the second half. Samantha Panzner scored her first of two goals on the evening in the 48th minute, beating senior netminder Gabrielle Wilson. 

The Red Foxes would score twice in the final 10 minutes of the game to put it out of reach, with Rycke Guiney making it 2-0 in the 84th minute and Panzner finishing the game's scoring in the 89th minute.

"Overall, we didn't play well," head coach Peter Veltri said. "It's a very frustrating because we are a much better team then what we showed tonight. Hopefully the coaching staff and players can learn from it and be better prepared down the road." 

With Friday's result, the Purple Eagles are presently in second place with 12 points. Canisius, Loyola and Iona are tied for third place with 10 points, while Rider and Fairfield are tied for sixth place with eight points.

Niagara is back in action on Sunday afternoon, in a critical MAAC game against Siena.