NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles wrapped up the 2014 season on Wednesday night with a 0-0 double-OT draw against the Canisius Golden Griffins.
 
Steve Casey started between the pipes for the Purple Eagles (5-11-3; 2-6-2 MAAC) and turned in a career-best 11 saves through the complete 110 minutes. The Freshman from Buffalo, New York made his final save of the night in the 102^nd minute to preserve the tie.
 
"Steve obviously played the best game he's had all season," head coach Eric Barnes said. "He's finally peaking and he did a great job. He really organized and managed the team well, which is something we struggled with in the past a little bit. Then he made some big saves for us."

Niagara controlled the game in the second half and the first of two overtimes. Julian Ekeze got things started with a shot on net in the 58^th minute. The other three quality chances came in the final minutes as Nicholas Watson and Jack Welsh forced the Canisius (9-6-3; 4-4-2 MAAC) keeper to make saves in the 76^th minute before Watson collected the final chance in regulation with a look in the 89^th minute.
 
"The team played really well, a lot of guys went in and battled," Barnes said. "We used a lot of the new guys who really stepped up and the older guys showed their seniority when they were on the field to keep the team together."
 
"It was the story of the season; we had a lot of chances and didn't finish them," he continued. "They've got one of the better goalkeepers in the conference and it's unfortunate we didn't finish out chances."
 
The game went into overtime where Watson and Andrew Ferguson had chances at a golden goal, but were unable to convert. NU doubled up Canisius in shots on goal in the second half and first overtime with a 6-3 edge.
 
The teams split the Battle of the Bridge points that were on the line, but the game went into unofficial penalty kicks to decide the winner of the Big Four Shield. All 10 shooters in regulation scored (including Jacob Ohlin, Roberto Fernandez-Andersson, Michael Hanton, Callum Willmott, and the elder Ferguson for the Purple Eagles) and headed into an extra round. Canisius was able to get a save and a goal to win it in the sixth round and take control of the Shield.
 
Watson led the team with five shots, four of which landed on net, with Welsh, Ferguson, and Ekeze adding one shot apiece.