NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara women's soccer team displayed its attacking prowess in a 4-1 win over the Quinnipiac Bobcats in its conference home opener on Saturday night.
"I thought we played a complete game tonight," head coach
Peter Veltri said. "Defensively we played our usual strong game, but I thought tonight we really showed what we can do offensively.
Niagara (5-1-3, 1-0-1 MAAC) scored two goals in each half while holding a commanding 22-3 shot advantage en route to extending its unbeaten streak to five matches.
The Purple Eagles opened the scoring five minutes into the match.
Laura Ortiz played a diagonal ball to
Catherine Meyer on the left side who whipped in a cross which
Hayley Besaw headed into the net for her first goal of the season. Nine minutes later, however, the Bobcats (1-6-1, 0-1-1 MAAC) equalized when Christina Cesarini played a cross from the left which Daniella Maggio redirected into the net. NU would then outshoot the Bobcats, 6-0, before regaining the lead thanks to an own goal in the 25th minute when a Bobcat defender failed to clear a header from a cross.
The one-way traffic continued in the second half and the Purple Eagles were rewarded with a third goal in the 61st minute. With a free kick outside of the box,
Haillie Price bended her shot over the wall and into the left upper 90 for her team-leading fourth goal.
The Purple Eagles had a few more chances with
Kiley Titus and Besaw both having their shots narrowly miss high in the 72nd and 75th minute, respectively. Five minutes later, Meyer launched a shot that smashes off the post, but Eva Bachmann followed up and headed home her second goal of the season.
"We created a lot of good scoring opportunities with a lot of different players," Veltri said. "I think that we are starting to feel comfortable with each other offensively and we are really starting to create good scoring chances."
Niagara will take its five-match unbeaten streak to archrival Canisius in the first Battle of the Bridge contest on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
