Saint Francis were resilient in their own defensive half throughout much of the first half, but the Purple Eagles finally got one passed Marshall to break the scoreless deadlock.
 
Saint Francis played with a sense of urgency coming out of the half but could not find the back of the net.

FLASH MOMENTS
In the 31st minute, Savannah Schoonmaker (State College, Pa.) nearly connected with Lauren Persichetty (Staten Island, N.Y.) on a long ball off of a free kick in what was the best chance of the first half for the Red Flash. Raine Korpics (Walnutport, Pa,) had a narrow miss from outside the box just six minutes later.

In the 25th minute, Caterina Schiavo (Sicklerville, N.J.) made a spectacular sliding tackle inside the box to deny Niagara on a dangerous scoring chance. Marshall made a great save in the 28th minute, deflecting the ball off the post for Lauren Pyle (Lititz, Pa.) to clear from the box.
 
Early in the second half, Claire Miko (Medina, Ohio.) sent a dangerous ball into the box, but Niagara goalkeeper Felicia Grufman caught it.
 
In the 74th minute, Rita Kendziora (Duncansville, Pa.) made a run deep into the Niagara zone. A couple of passes from Kendziora and Mercedez Paino (Langhorne, Pa.) led to a Paige Theobald (Tinton Falls, N.J.) shot that was deflected by a Niagara defender and floated right into the arms of Grufman.
 
Dziesiaty took one last shot for Saint Francis in the 89th minute, but it sailed wide to the left.

FLASH NUGGETS
The Saint Francis defense tightened up in the second half, allowing just one shot in the first 40 minutes of the period, compared to the nine they allowed in the first half.
 
The Red Flash generated three corner kicks, two of which came in the opening half.
 
Colletta Ozbey (Pittsburgh, Pa.) made her first appearance of the season in the contest.

UP NEXT
Saint Francis returns home to face their former Northeast Conference rival, Robert Morris, on Sunday Aug. 27. The Red Flash will kick off against the Colonials at 4:00 p.m.