NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara women's soccer team dropped its first conference game of the season with a 3-1 loss to the Marist Red Foxes Sunday afternoon at Niagara Field.

"Obviously today didn't go our way," head coach Peter Veltri said.  "I thought we were very sluggish throughout the game and didn't play very well, but at the same time you have to give credit to Marist.  They are the defending champions and they showed why. The good thing is that we still have seven games to clean up a few things and hopefully prepare for the MAAC tournament.  If we meet up with them in the tournament than we'll know what to expect and go from there."  

The Purple Eagles (6-5-0; 1-1-0 MAAC) grabbed an early 1-0 lead off the foot of sophomore Catherine Meyer in the fifth minute of play.  Sophomore Haillie Price started the play with a perfect one-touch feed to Jamie Raepple who sped down the right lane before laying off a long cross into traffic.  Meyer was waiting at the back post for the easy tap in to earn her second goal of the year. 

Junior Samantha Panzer scored in the 18th minute to tie the game at one apiece.  The midfielder saw her 23-yard shot float past the hands of rookie keeper Claire Feiertag and hit the far post before trickling in.  Sophomore Marjana Maksuti gave the Red Foxes (8-5-0; 2-0-0 MAAC) their first lead of the game less than five minutes later when she headed in a cross from Panzer.

The teams headed into intermission with Marist holding an eight to four advantage in shots.   

With just over 30 minutes remaining the game, Marist solidified the win when Makasuti earned her second tally of the contest off a header, assisted by Amanda Epstein.   

Raepple and Meyer each had two shots on the game, while Feiertag finished the contest with four saves.  

Niagara heads out on a two-game roadtrip next weekend when it meets Fairfield on Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. and Iona on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 1 p.m.