Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Manhattan women's lacrosse team earned a hard fought 9-8 victory over Marist in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) action on Senior Day at Gaelic Park.
Prior to the contest, the six Jaspers' seniors: Kaleigh Howe (Pearl River, N.Y. / Pearl River), Domenica O'Brey (Loudonville, N.Y. / Colonie Central), Donna Jo DiNorcia (Verona, N.J. / Verona), Carly Cappello (New City, N.Y. / Albertus Magnus), Christina Fiorinelli (Massapequa, N.Y. / Massapequa) and Caitlin Hynes (Mahopac, N.Y. / Mahopac) were recognized for their accomplishments over the last four seasons.
With the win, Manhattan concludes its season at 4-13 overall, including 1-7 in league play. Marist drops to 7-8, and 3-5 against MAAC opponents.
The Jaspers took their first lead of the game with 17:33 to play in the second half. Senior DiNorcia, who turned in a heroic performance in her first game back from injury, notched her hat trick goal to give the squad an 8-7 advantage. Junior Stefanie Ranagan (Yorktown Heights, N.Y. / Yorktown) was credited with an assist on the play.
Manhattan's largest lead came when junior co-captain Megan Yarusso (Brewster, N.Y. / Brewster) buried her third goal of the game with 15:07 remaining in the second half to make the score 9-7.
Marist would not go down without a fight, as freshman Morgan Jaycox netted with 10:22 to play to bring the Red Foxes' deficit to one goal, at 9-8. In the final minutes of regulation, senior Kirsten Viscount had a goal disallowed due to a crease violation. In the final minute of play, she also rang a shot off the crossbar, but the Jaspers held strong and maintained their one-goal edge as time expired.
Manhattan trailed by as many as four, at 5-1, just 8:38 into the first half, but cut the deficit to 7-5 after 30 minutes of play. A 4-2 run to end the first stanza, courtesy of goals by O'Brey and Yarusso and two by DiNorcia, enabled the Jaspers to claw back into the game.
The play of Ranagan on draw controls was instrumental in grabbing extra offensive opportunities for Manhattan over that span.
Defensively, the Jaspers played very well, especially in the second half. Junior Casey Silvestri (Pomona, N.Y. / Albertus Magnus) led the Jaspers with three caused turnovers. Fiorinelli made 14 saves in the game to culminate her fantastic Manhattan tenure with 608 career saves.
Yarusso paced the Jaspers in goals (34) and points (45) this season. Junior co-captain Kaitlyn Cunningham (Spring Lake, N.J. / Red Bank Catholic) ended the year with a team-high 12 assists. Seven Manhattan players finished the season in double figures in scoring.
Ranagan was excellent on draw controls all year, and won 70 on the season.
Defensively, Fiorinelli collected a team-best 60 ground balls. Silvestri picked up 30 ground balls, while Hynes and Cunningham gathered 27 apiece. Hynes also led the team with 18 caused turnovers.
