NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara women's lacrosse team defeated Little 3 rival St. Bonaventure, 16-12, to earn its third victory of the season in its home opener on Tuesday evening at Niagara Field.

Freshman Grace Hunt impressed the crowd in her home debut, making all of her shots and finishing with a team-high four goals.

Niagara, now 3-4 overall, put together its best offensive showing to date with season-highs in goals (16) and assists (7).  Hunt led a slew of seven players in the scoring column—including five players with at least three points in the game.  Erin Patenaude and Brittany Delano both had a trio of goals and a pair of assists while Danielle Maio and Carrie-Jo Farrugia contributed two goals and a helper as well. Hannah Barnett and Jillian Ford also helped out on the offensive end after adding one goal each.

Sophomore Andrea Francisco, who played a majority of the contest (51 minutes), made four saves to take home the win for the Purple Eagles.

"We got off to a great start today and when we were patient and allowed the ball to do the work, we were able to get great looks at the cage," head coach Wendy Stone said.  "We knew St. Bonaventure would be a team that would come in here and compete for 60 minutes, and we needed to match their intensity from the start."

The opening 10 minutes of the contest was controlled by Niagara as the Purple Eagles received two goals apiece from Patenaude and Hunt to take a 4-0 lead. SBU answered with two goals one which was off an unassisted man up goal at the 16:32 mark. However, Maio and Delano gave NU a four-goal lead (6-2) off their first scores of the game. 
 
Delano would add her second less than a minute and a half later before the Bonnies got one past Francisco to bring the score back within four. Barnett would boost the Purple Eagles' lead with 9:55 remaining in the half after an assist from Delano. Both teams went scoreless in the final nine minutes of the period as Niagara went into halftime with an 8-3 lead.

The Bonnies then seize control of the game in the beginning of the second half, scoring four unanswered goals to pull within one, 8-7. Despite St. Bonaventure coming out strong in the first 14 minutes, the Purple Eagles were able to answer to disallow the comeback. Niagara scored five of the next six goals to make it 13-8 with 12:38 remaining in the contest. From there, St. Bonaventure could not come any closer than three goals as the Purple Eagles secured the 16-12 victory.
 
"We need to work to be more consistent on both ends of the field," Stone continued. "It was great to see different players step up for us today and we will look to be better next time out."

For the game, Niagara dominated nearly every facet of the score sheet.  Niagara outshot St. Bonaventure, 39-24, grabbed a 27-23 advantage in ground balls and forced 20 St. Bonaventure turnovers compared to 17 from the Bonnies.  The Purple Eagles also controlled the circle with a 19-11 edge on the draw. 

NU returns to Niagara Field on Friday, March 20 when the Purple Eagles host Robert Morris at 3 p.m.

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