The Siena and Niagara Women's Lacrosse programs have grown to become familiar MAAC title contenders over these last couple of seasons.
After the Saints prevailed over the Purple Eagles 13-10 in last season's MAAC Semifinal round in Fairfield, the teams are set for a rematch meeting in the same round—at the same location.
The regular season meeting between the teams had a flair for the dramatics as Siena rallied from a six-goal deficit to top Niagara 11-10 about a month ago when the teams met in Loudonville.
The Saints held a hefty 18-7 advantage in draw controls and were picked up by a pair of hat tricks from
Rebecca Gilhooley and freshman
Elizabeth Wamp.
Friday's game is set to be broadcast by ESPN+ with J.J. Duke on the play-by-play, and Brinley Anderson serving as the analyst.
Opening draw is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Siena (13-5) set a program single-season record for most wins in a season with its 9-6 victory over No. 6 Canisius this past Sunday at home.
Jordan Bentley and
Taryn Asselin each scored twice while Siena also held a huge 14-5 advantage in draw controls.
Defensively, Siena got a big boost from
Mikayla Cooke, who contributed across the board with five draw controls, three ground balls and caused two turnovers.
Siena is 4-5 all-time in the MAAC Semifinals Round and has made MAAC Championship in three of the last four finals.
Niagara has made it to the MAAC Championship twice, going back-to-back seasons in 2000 and 2001.
In leading the Saints, junior
Grace Dobrzynski was named to the All-MAAC First team as an attack after leading the conference in both assists (59) and points (83).
Another junior
Kelly Logue has totaled a team-high 34 goals with 28 assists.
MAAC First Team selection
Taryn Asselin (at-large/specialist) set two program records for most draw controls in a season and also holds the mark for most draw controls in a game with 15.
Asselin has a conference-leading 117 draw controls including seven in last Sunday's MAAC Quarterfinals win and has 30 goals to go along with eight assists.
The Purple Eagles' potent, high-scoring offense is led by Andra Savage, who far and away leads the conference in goals scored with 70, and also features Lexi Braniecki, who has 53 scores, and Lois Garlow (50 goals).
Niagara leads the MAAC with 263 goals scored on the season (15.43 per game).
Latray Riley ranks second in assists in the conference with 58.
The goalies match up looks pretty evenly matched on paper with
Sabrina Krasner (ranking second with 9.85 goals-against average) and Jordan Roy ranking fourth at 10.20 goals against average.
The winner will advance to the MAAC Championship on Sunday at 12 p.m. at Fairfield against the winner of the #1 Fairfield/#5 Mount St. Mary's match up.
Fans can follow along with the corresponding live stats link, while continuous in-game updates will be provided via the women's lacrosse team's official "X" page @SienaWLAX.
Join the conversation by using the hashtags #MarchOn, #SienaSaints and #BigDawgs.
