NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Purple Eagles lacrosse team fell behind early in Saturday afternoon's MAAC contest with Iona, trailing 7-2 at halftime. Niagara's offense broke out with a late four-goal run, but the rally came up just short as Iona took the win 8-6 at Niagara Field.
 
Caroline Crump earned points on five of Niagara's six goals, scoring three times while assisting twice. Taylor Wolf (2+0) and Sarah Arndt (0+2) each had two points, and a goal from Cailyn Negus rounded out the Niagara scoring. Andrea Francisco made four saves in the loss.
 
"We did not match their energy and intensity at the beginning of the game and dug ourselves too big of a hole to climb out of," head coach Wendy Stone said. "We need to clean up our stick work going forward and focus on the little things. They made more plays than we did today, and we will work to be better next time out."
 
In the first period, Niagara (6-6, 2-2 MAAC) was outshot 15-8 by the Gaels despite an 8-2 advantage in draw controls through 30 minutes. Iona opened the scoring 1:41 into the game, but the Purple Eagles came back to take a 2-1 lead as Crump set up Wolf for the tying goal before scoring off a free position shot just under five minutes into the game. Iona would keep Niagara off the board the rest of the way to halftime, scoring six unanswered goals to lead 7-2 after 30 minutes of play.
 
Iona (6-6, 1-2 MAAC) won the opening draw of the second period and scored 1:07 in, but that was the last goal the Gaels would score as the Purple Eagles' defense buckled down. Niagara got tremendous second-half performances from Alexandra Higgins, who finished the game with five ground balls, six draw controls, and four caused turnovers, as well as senior captain Elizabeth Benedict who totaled six ground balls and three caused turnovers.
 
The Gaels were limited to just five shots in the second half, opting to run the clock down rather than push to extend the lead. The Niagara offense got in gear about halfway through the second period, when the comeback effort began. Crump scored two goals 2:22 apart, the second of which was set up from behind the net by Arndt, to bring the score to 8-4 with 12 minutes to play.

Niagara continued to whittle the deficit down in the closing minutes, as Arndt set up Wolf for her second goal with 3:27 to play before Crump found Negus for a strike just 42 seconds later. That was all the scoring that Niagara would find, however. Iona goalkeeper Thea Leitman, who finished the game with eight saves, made a pair of point-blank stops on Niagara's Jillian Ford in the closing minutes to preserve the lead as the Gaels held on for an 8-6 win.

The Purple Eagles wrap up their non-conference schedule on Tuesday, April 12 as the team travels to the University of Michigan to face the Wolverines at 5 p.m. After that, Niagara returns to the MAAC and faces the Manhattan Jaspers on the road Saturday, April 16 at 11:00 a.m.

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