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On Friday night, the Purple Eagles lacrosse team will complete its five-game road trip with the biggest test the team has faced this season. For the second straight season, Niagara will face the University of Florida Gators at the Donald R. Dizney Stadium. Florida is currently ranked as the third-best team in the NCAA.
 
Last Time Out
 

• In their first game of the week on Tuesday, the Purple Eagles lost to the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers by a score of 13-8.
• Caroline Crump scored four goals for Niagara. Taylor Wolf scored twice to bring her team-leading goal total to 10. Alexis Morales and Molly Gray also scored for Niagara.
• Junior Andrea Francisco made eight saves in net as Niagara fell to 1-3 on the season.
• Coastal Carolina started the game on a 3-0 run and closed the game with four unanswered goals.
• Despite trailing by three goals 9:09 into the contest, Niagara went on a 4-1 run over the next 10 minutes to tie the game at 4-4.
• Coastal responded with another three-goal run of its own before Taylor Wolf scored to send Niagara into halftime down 7-5.
• With 12 minutes to play, Crump's fourth goal of the game made it 9-8 Coastal Carolina.
• However, the Chanticleers would shut out the Purple Eagles' offense from there, adding four goals in the remainder of regulation to pull ahead for the win.

 
Niagara Notes
 

• Wolf set a career-high with 32 goals in 18 games in 2015. The junior currently has 10 goals in four games this season, putting her on an 18-game pace for 45, which would tie Kelly Filipkowski (1997) for the third-most in a season in Niagara program history.
• With 27 saves in four games this season, Francisco has moved into fifth on the all-time saves list for Niagara lacrosse with 214, passing Kristen Engel (205, 2003-07).
• Francisco tied a career-high on Feb. 23 at Colgate with 12 saves.
• The six goals allowed to Binghamton on Feb. 20 was the lowest goal total by a Niagara opponent since the Purple Eagles held Detroit to four goals in a 14-4 win on Apr. 2, 2014.
• Taylor Wolf scored a hat trick in that win over Detroit as a freshman. That was the last time a Purple Eagles rookie scored three goals in a game before Alexis Morales did so at Binghamton.

 
Scouting the Gators (5-0)
 

• The Florida Gators are the third-ranked team in the NCAA after beginning the season at No. 7.
• Florida has two road wins over teams previously ranked No. 2. The Gators took down North Carolina 16-15 in Chapel Hill, NC on Feb. 20 before beating Syracuse 11-10 in overtime at the Carrier Dome on Tuesday.
• Florida made the 2015 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament and defeated Stanford 15-10 in the first round before falling to North Carolina 11-6.
• Mollie Stevens leads the Big East and ranks seventh nationally with 16 goals this season.
• Shayna Pirreca is the Gators' leading total scorer with 18 points on 10 goals and eight assists.
• Goalkeeper Mary-Sean Wilcox is 5-0 with a 9.98 goals-against average and .439 save percentage.

 
Next Appearance
 

• After playing at Florida, Niagara has a week off before its home opener. The Purple Eagles square off against Cincinnati March 13 at 12:00 p.m. at Niagara Field.

 
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