Niagara University, NY - Niagara women's lacrosse dropped their first conference game of the season, falling to Mount St. Mary's 13-4 Saturday afternoon at Niagara Field.

The Purple Eagles fell to 8-8, 7-1 MAAC, while the Mountaineers improved to 10-6, 6-2 MAAC.

Mount St. Mary's struck first when Shannon McTavish converted a free-position opportunity at 9:58, then Ava Kraszewski added a goal assisted by McTavish at 7:44 to push the lead to 2-0. Niagara answered late when Avery Olschefskie found the back of the net with 1:20 remaining to make it 2-1 heading into the second quarter.

McTavish scored unassisted just 20 seconds into the second quarter to extend the Mountaineers' lead to 3-1. After a scoreless midperiod stretch, Haylee Bittinger converted a man-up goal off a McTavish assist at 5:50 to make it 4-1. Niagara responded when Kensington Keane scored at 4:48 to pull the Purple Eagles within two, but McTavish answered for the Mountaineers less than 90 seconds later with her fourth goal of the game, this one assisted by MK Allingham to give Mount St. Mary's a 5-2 lead heading into halftime.

Maddy Gill scored just over a minute into the third quarter after Sydney Huhtala scooped up a ground ball off a Mount St. Mary's turnover, pulling the Purple Eagles within 5-3. Brooke Molchanoff converted a free-position shot at 5:31 and then added a second goal seconds after collecting a rebound off the post at 3:26, pushing the score to 7-3 through three quarters.

Molchanoff scored at 13:26 of the final frame and Kraszewski added another at 12:03 to quickly push the deficit to 9-3. Niagara's Gill scored at 6:00 to account for the Purple Eagles' fourth and final goal, but Mount St. Mary's closed out the game by scoring five of the next six goals. Maddie Malfa netted two, Emma Carter-Wilhelm added a man-up goal, and Allingham and Malfa again combined to cap the scoring at 13-4 with 41 seconds remaining.

Game Notes

Niagara is now 5-6 all-time against Mount St. Mary's

Gill scored multiple goals for the fifth straight game and extended her point streak to eight games

Huhtala led the Purple and White with six ground balls and five caused turnovers

Olschefskie set a career-high with her 13th goal of the season

Up Next

Niagara heads into the MAAC postseason where they will have a first round bye and await their opponent for the semifinals Friday May 1.