The second-seeded Purple Eagles' season came to an end in the 2010 CHA Tournament Semifinals with a 5-3 defeat to the third-seeded Syracuse Orange on Friday night from the City Sports Center. Niagara allowed three-straight goals in the second period after taking a 2-1 lead earlier in the period.
"It was another good game that could have gone either way," head coach Chris MacKenzie said. "I think the two week break caught up to us tonight."
Senior forwards Jennifer MacLean and Mary McKinnon each gave Niagara (12-14-5) one-goal leads. MacLean opened the scoring 16 seconds into the game. Fellow senior Frances McPhail found MacLean in front of the net and she placed it past Syracuse’s Lucy Schoedel.
The Purple Eagles controlled the first half of the period, but lost some steam in the latter part of the period. The Orange (18-16-1) capitalized with a goal with 47 seconds left in the period from Lisa Mullan.
McKinnon put NU back in front with a goal two minutes into the second period for a 2-1 lead. However, Syracuse would go on the power play 14 seconds later and would shift the momentum for the rest of the period. Mullan scored her second goal of the game on that power play to tie the game at 2-2. Stefanie Marty gave SU its first lead with an unassisted effort at 7:54 in the second and the Orange scored its third straight when Janelle Malcolm’s shot was deflected in at 13:08.
Niagara was forced to chase the game in the third period and dominated possession and shots. The Purple Eagles outshot the Orange 11-3 in the final period and had several goal scoring chances as they attacked the net. The pressure eventually paid off for Niagara; freshman forward Jenna Hendrikx pounced on the rebound from MacLean’s shot to score her team-leading 14th goal to bring the Purple Eagles to 4-3 with at 10:46 remaining.
With NU down a goal, the Purple Eagles pulled goalie Jenni Bauer to bring on an extra attacker with 1:19 left in the game. Niagara was unable to get a shot on net and Syracuse scored an empty net goal with 14 seconds on the clock.
"It was a great year and we exceeded a lot of expectations," MacKenzie said. "The senior class laid the footprint for the future and we will build on that."
Niagara ends the season with its most wins in five seasons.