NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. - The Marist women's lacrosse punched its ticket for a return trip back to Western New York next weekend as the Red Foxes defeated Niagara 15-5 on their way to clinching the #3 seed in the upcoming MAAC Championship. On the strength senior Ariel Kramer's (Syracuse, N.Y.) program record-tying eight goal effort, Marist cruised to its third MAAC victory of the regular season.

After back-and-forth play in the opening 15 minutes of play in which Niagara held a 4-3 lead, Kramer started a four goal Marist run to close the half at 14:56. She netted three of the four goals, as senior Kelly Condon (Roslyn, Pa.) took a Jori Procaccini (Long Valley, N.J.) pass at 5:02 for the only non-Kramer tally.

At the half, the score was Marist 7-4, on the strength of four goals by Kramer, two by Ashley Miller (Montville, N.J.) and one by Condon.

Kramer continued the scoring in the second half as she scored her fifth goal of the game 2:03 into the period. Following a Katherine Pille goal for the Purple Eagles at 27:01, Marist closed the game on a 7-0 run to earn the 15-5 decision. Red Fox goal scorers included Kramer (3), senior Shannon Haas (Farmingdale, N.Y.) (2), Miller and freshman Jackie DiMaria (Dix Hills, N.Y.). DiMaria's marker was the first of her career.  

Strong goalkeeping by junior Ashley Casiano (South Windsor, Conn.) and in the closing minutes by freshman Liz Holmes (Longmeadow, Mass.) helped keep the Purple Eagles at bay, as the duo combined for nine of their 13 saves in the second half.

With her eight goals, Ariel Kramer tied a 14-year old program record for most goals in a single contest that was held by Pamela Brown, who netted eight goals versus Howard on April 10, 1998.

The Red Foxes will be back in action next weekend in the MAAC Championship that will be held at Canisius. Marist, the #3 seed will face off with the #2 Canisius Golden Griffins.