PITTSBURGH – The Niagara Purple Eagles racked up 15 shots and took a scoreless tie into half, but ultimately fell to the Binghamton Bearcats 2-0 on Sunday to close the Duquesne Invitational.
  
Niagara (1-2-0) put seven shots towards the goalmouth and forced the Binghamton (2-2-0) keeper to make three saves in the opening half, but took a 0-0 tie into the break. Nicholas Watson hit the crossbar in the 11^th minute and hit the post later in the 31^st minute.

"We went with a shorter roster today and outplayed Binghamton for the majority of the match," head coach Eric Barnes said. "We created a number of quality scoring chances, but were unable to finish. We give Binghamton credit that they found a way to get a goal against the run of play to earn the win."

Watson, a senior, led the team with three shots on goal for the afternoon while five total Purple Eagles registered a scoring chance. Steve Casey started in net and allowed two goals while making a pair of saves.
 
After the Bearcats took the lead towards the end of the 50^th minute, the Purple Eagles put another three shots on target between the 65^th and 68^th minutes, but were unable to break through. As Niagara continued to press, Binghamton was able to add another goal in the 79^th minute to come away with a 2-0 win.

"In spite of the loss, I'm proud of the guys and I know we will be extremely dangerous going forward," said Barnes.

An All-Tournament Team was announced at the conclusion of the weekend's festivities and both Jacob Ohlin and Brennan Koslow were honored from the Purple Eagles.
 
Niagara opens its home schedule next Friday when it hosts the Buffalo Bulls at 7:30 p.m. at Niagara Field.