NCAA Rewind: A Season Full of Firsts, Records for Niagara

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

NIAGARA

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: not ranked/not ranked
2024 record: 16-4 (7-2 MAAC)

What went right: In a season marked by rankings chaos, chalk mostly held in conference championships, with favorites winning crowns. Then Niagara stepped in and made things interesting. 

The Purple Eagles clipped regular-season champion Fairfield, ending the Stags’ five-year reign (and since Fairfield received an at-large bid, bursting the bubble of Colorado or Navy in the process). The win gave the Purple Eagles their first MAAC crown and NCAA bid and was the program’s record 16th on the season. 

Other program marks to fall included conference wins (7), goals (290) and assists (147). Andra Savage’s 76 goals and 83 points now top Niagara’s single-season register, with the 76 goals also tying former Canisius star Erica Evans for the MAAC mark.

What went wrong: Losses to Fairfield and Siena made the path to MAAC glory more of a challenge for the Purple Eagles, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. But they embraced it. However, there would be no upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament, where Niagara never led Stony Brook and bowed out in a 19-7 loss.

Season highlight: There’s something special about a first conference championship, and that’s what the Purple Eagles won in 2024. The game was a back-and-forth one, with the score knotted at 8-all heading into the fourth. 

The Purple Eagles went on to outscore the Stags 3-1 in the final frame to grab the trophy from its five-year resting place in Connecticut and take it back to New York. For all the success Fairfield has had nationally and in the MAAC, the Purple Eagles have won three of the last four meetings (and the conference championship avenged a 14-7 loss in March).

Verdict: Were there wins over ranked bluebloods? No, but that’s not always the point, and Fairfield was a fringe-Top-20 team all season. In the end, records fell, a rival’s streak was broken, rings were earned and history was made. 

It was a rousing success for Niagara.