Pirates Drop 14-13 Contest To Niagara | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of ECU Sports.



    GREENVILLE, N.C.     A lopsided third quarter was the difference as the East Carolina lacrosse team lost to Niagara 14-13 on Saturday night.

    East Carolina drops to 5-3 on the season while Niagara improves to 4-2.

    It was a good start for the Pirates. Frances Kimel opened the scoring with an unassisted goal before Niagara answered. Kimel then set up Leah Bestany to score followed by a free-position goal from Nicole LeGar. That goal gave LeGar 107 tallies in her Pirate career, passing former teammate Megan Pallozzi for the most career goals by an ECU player.

    After LeGar's goal, Niagara answered with a goal of its own, but Kimel and Bestany went back-to-back to close out the first quarter with a 5-2 Pirate advantage.

    The two teams traded goals in the second quarter, with Payton Barr and Ellie Bromley scoring for the Pirates. A Purple Eagle goal with 43 seconds left in the half made it 7-5 at the break.

    Niagara came out of halftime firing and that helped the Purple Eagles flip the game on its head. Niagara scored the opening four goals of the second half, all within three minutes of each other, to take a 9-7 lead. The Pirates stopped the bleeding when LeGar scored off a feed from Kimel, but Niagara answered on the ensuing possession. While the Pirates got goals from Bestany and Barr in the remainder of the third quarter, they could never draw even as Niagara always had an answer, including the final two goals of the third quarter to take a 13-10 lead into the fourth.

    East Carolina got an early boost in the fourth when Elizabeth Wilson scored from the eight-meter arc after just 45 seconds elapsed. Niagara got that goal back though followed by a LeGar free-position goal with 8:03 remaining. The Pirates trailed by two after LeGar's tally, but the Niagara defense clamped down and the seconds ticked away. ECU was finally able to break through when Wilson again scored from the eight-meter arc, but only 52 seconds remained at that point and when Niagara won the ensuing draw, the Purple Eagles were able to see out the clock.

    ECU outshot Niagara 26-19 and had an 18-13 advantage in the draw circle. Both teams scooped up 16 ground balls while Niagara turned it over 18 times compared to 15 for the Pirates. The Purple Eagles had the advantage in the cage, making eight saves to two for ECU.

    Kimel finished with five points on two goals and three assists. Bestany and LeGar each had a hat trick while Barr and Wilson scored a pair of goals. Caroline Meininger, LeGar and Alexandra Giacolone each caused two Niagara turnovers while Giacolone and LeGar had a team-high three ground balls. Flynn Reed carried the Pirates in the draw circle, grabbing 10 draw controls to set a new career-high. In the goal, Brynn Knight and Sophie Bandorick each played 30 minutes, making one save apiece.

    The Pirates will be back home on Wednesday afternoon to host Davidson. That game will get started at 4 p.m., in Johnson Stadium.