LOUDONVILLE, NY – The ramifications of Saturday's Senior Day game between Siena and Niagara Women's Lacrosse game will have a consequential groundswell on the MAAC postseason picture as far as seedings are concerned.
There is a tight cluster of teams from the top spot where Mount St. Mary's and Fairfield (both 6-1 in the MAAC) currently reside and throughout the middle of the pack with a three-way tie between Siena, Niagara and Iona all at 5-2 in conference play followed by a pair of 4-3 teams in Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart. It leaves Rider, Canisius and Marist all trying to secure the final spot of the playoffs with 2-5 marks.
But the seedings will take a scramble after Saturday's action.
And, if the last few match ups between the teams are any indication, it promises to be another closely played competitive one. Niagara and Siena have split the prior six meetings since 2021 and four of those games having been decided by just a goal.
Prior to the game, Siena will be honoring its eight seniors (six players and two student managers) at 12 p.m. at Hickey Field with a special tribute followed by the game itself, which will start at 1:02 p.m. on
ESPN+.
Broadcasters Tom Schwan and Lauren Chatnik-Bergin will have the call.
Live stats can be followed
here and all updates will be made through "X"
@SienaWLax.
Siena (7-8, 5-2 MAAC) enters hot, winning all five of their games in April including Wednesday's 10-7 road win at Merrimack.
Freshman goalkeeper
McAllister Salter has started each of those games, boosting her record to 5-0. The Tappan, NY native has made 50 saves and has lowered her season goals-against average to 9.03 with a .459 save percentage.
Niagara (7-9, 5-2 MAAC) is coming off a 14-5 win over Marist, and has split four of its conference games by a margin of just one goal. The Purple Eagles beat Canisius and Rider by a goal, both in overtime, but dropped games to Iona and Quinnipiac by one goal.
The Purple Eagles have been led by junior midfielder Maddy Gill, who leads in MAAC in goals scored with 48, shots with 107 and is ranked ninth in points per game at 3.25. Michaela Delles is another high-powered option for Niagara as the freshman attack has tallied 34 goals and six assists.
For the Saints, top production has been split among a trio of players with Dobrzynski leading Siena with 22 goals and 23 assists followed by
Kelly Logue, who has 24 goals as well with 16 assists, and
Olivia Nicholson, who leads the team in goals scored with 27.
Draw controls continue to be growing strength for the Saints as the team has now overtaken their opponents in the category for the season (183-178).
The top three in the category are
Cassidy Bonura (67 draw controls, ranks fourth in the MAAC with 4.47 per contest),
Sydney Hannes (42 draw controls) and
Mikayla Cooke (32 draw controls).
Niagara has been outdrawn 243-148 on the season. But they've received a concerted group effort with Giordan Peck (34 draw controls), Julia Peters (25 draw controls) and Sydney Huhtala (24 draw controls) making the top contributions.
In between the pipes, Niagara's Haley Terry has started all 16 games and has made 152 saves on a .425 save percentage along with a 13.27 goals-against average.
Huhtala continues to be the conference's top defender of chaos, causing a league-leading 57 turnovers (3.56 per game) and ground balls per game (4.00).
