DENVER – The Niagara University women's lacrosse team concluded its five-game road trip with a 21-10 defeat to the No. 20/16 Denver Pioneers on Saturday.

Game Summary
Score: Denver Pioneers 21, Niagara 10
Offensive Leaders: Rachel MacCheyne (4G 1A), Shea Swartwout (2G)
Defensive Leaders: Lauren Paul (3 GB), Rachel MacCheyne (5 DC)
In Goal: Aubrey DeVeau (6 saves)
Records: Niagara (3-3), Denver (4-2)
Location: Peter Barton LS
 
Game Recap

• Niagara held its own against the nationally-ranked Pioneers.
• Rachel MacCheyne opened the scoring with a free position goal 2:38 into the game.
• Denver tied the game at 1-1 four minutes later, and led 5-1 with 19 minutes left in the half.
• The Purple Eagles scored two straight goals to cut the lead to 5-3.
• Jillian Ford scored her seventh of the season at 15:15, and was followed by MacCheyne at the 11:16 mark.
• The Pioneers answered with four straight goals for a 9-3 lead.
• Alexi Morales scored her eighth goal of the season with two minutes left before Denver added two more goals for an 11-4 halftime lead.
• Niagara started the second half with two quick goals.
• MacCheyne netted her third of the game 33 seconds into the start of the half. Shea Swartwout scored 1:12 later to cut the lead to 11-6.
• After Denver increased its lead to 14-6, the Purple Eagles got goals from Maccheyne and Caroline Crump as NU trailed 14-8 with 22:45 left.
• However, the Pioneers scored seven of the game's final nine goals.  

 
Coach's Corner

• "We're incredibly proud of our team and how we competed today against a very good Denver team. We battled for 60 minutes, and made plays on both ends of the field. We play teams like this to challenge ourselves prior to MAAC play. We will continue to work on getting better in our next time out." – head coach Wendy Stone

 
Inside The Numbers

• Rachel MacCheyne led NU with four goals, her third four-game of the season, to increase her team-leading goal tally to 21. MacCheyne finished with five points after dishing out her team-high eighth assist on the season. She also had a team-high five draw controls to add to her team-leading draw controls total to 43.
• Shea Swartwout scored two goals to be the only other Purple Eagles with multiple goals/points.
• Lauren Paul added to her team-leading ground balls total to 27 after collecting a team-high three ground balls.
• Olivia Schroeder and Cierra Scheik each had two ground balls.

 
Up Next

• Niagara returns home to face the Yale Bulldogs on Tuesday, March 13 at 1 p.m.

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