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Date Posted: Monday, May 06, 05:36:30pm
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Lois Garlow and Andra Savage were still wearing their MAAC championship T-shirts nearly 24 hours later, almost like they hoped the euphoria would fade if they were removed.
And why not? They are trailblazers with an achievement that can never be taken away.
Garlow and Savage scored two goals apiece — in addition to Rachel Crane’s five-point outing — as Niagara beat No. 25 Fairfield 11-10 to win its first conference championship (in its first conference final) in program history and clinch a date with No. 14 Stony Brook at 2 p.m. Friday in Syracuse in the first round of the NCAA tournament. No Niagara women’s lacrosse team had ever won a conference championship nor secured a berth in the NCAA tournament — until Sunday.
But this was a moment the Purple Eagles had been building to all season and over the last three seasons. Niagara’s record has improved gradually since 2022, posting win increases in four consecutive seasons, but it was a loss to Fairfield that secured the belief this was the year to win a championship.
The Purple Eagles dropped a 14-7 game to the Stags, then ranked 19th in the country, March 23. But coach Wendy Stone saw something in her team that day and they have won eight out of nine games since.
“That was a moment where we kind of had a check for us and a time for us to sort of reaffirm what we wanted to do for the year and how we wanted to go about it,” said Stone, who is in her ninth season as head coach. “And I think from that moment on, really good things happened for us.”
Niagara reached the top of the MAAC with a potent offense ranked 15th nationally with 15.5 goals per game. But the real number to look at is assists, an area the Purple Eagles rank 11th in the country with 8.1 per game.
Like its win total, Niagara’s scoring has also progressed over the last few seasons, making a 30-goal jump from 2022 to 2023 and a 46-goal increase since last season. The Purple Eagles have also gone from tallying 78 assists in 2022 to a record 142 this year.
One of the reasons is a multi-pronged offensive attack that has been consistent from game to game. In previous seasons, one player might be hot for a few games and then disappear for a few, but it’s been steady all year.
In the previous three seasons combined, Niagara was held to single digits eight times and scored at least 15 goals 10 times. This year, however, the Purple Eagles have tallied at least 15 goals in nine games and were limited to fewer than 10 goals once, a 9-8 win over Siena in the MAAC semifinals.
“That consistency was something we could depend on as a team,” Stone said. “And I think that comes with age, that comes with experience and that was a big part of what we've done as a group.”
Savage has single-season program records with 73 goals and 86 points, while Garlow’s 82 points rank second in program history. Garlow is up 26 points and nine goals, while Savage made a 37-goal leap since last season.
But it’s not just two players, as Lexi Braniecki added 57 goals for back-to-back 50-goal seasons and Crane, the MAAC Co-Midfielder of the Year, notched 48 after posting 56 a year ago. In total, Niagara has four scorers who rank in the top-10 in the single-season record book in goals and points, including Riley Latray, whose 60 assists broke her own season record (42).
Huhtala.jpeg
Niagara's Sydney Huhtala (32) attempts to escape Fairfield's Eva Petrone (15) during the MAAC championship game, Sunday, in Fairfield, Conn.
Kelly Huhtala
Braniecki (173), Crane (170) and Garlow (166) now all rank in the top-five in career goals, while Latray’s 105 career assists are the most in Niagara history. All of those individual milestones led to team records in most wins (16), most conference wins (7 tie), fewest losses (3) and goals (283).
“Just because we have so many threads doesn't mean it's an automatic like, what's going to be the best offensive side, it's creating chemistry on and off the field and finding roles where everybody can thrive in,” Garlow said. “... It took a little bit of growing pains this season, but once we clicked, we clicked and it was no stopping us.”
No MAAC school has won an NCAA tournament game since Fairfield won a 2009 play-in game and the Purple Eagles get to put their record-setting offense up against a Stony Brook team with one of the most potent in the country, ranking eighth in goals (16.1) and first in assists (9.7).
Stony Brook also happens to rank fourth in goals allowed (7.9).
A Niagara defense that ranks — in goals allowed and boasts MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Sydney Huhtala will have to stop the Stony Brook tandem of Kailyn Hart and Ellie Masera who are tied for No. 6 in the country with 66 goals apiece.
“We came up with team goals and team standards and one of them was ‘cancel the noise’ and I think that really helped us to not look ahead of what's right in front of us,” said Savage, who ranks third nationally in goals. “Every single person on this team has an attitude that's like do or die. So we're gonna go into the game, and we're going to take what's handed to us and we're going to do our best and play how we play.”
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