Riverdale, NY - Senior midfielder
Caitlin Murphy (Carmel, NY / Carmel) tallied a season-high four goals, sophomore attacker
Alaina Burgess (Holden, MA / The Governor's Academy) buried the go-ahead goal for a second-straight game and Manhattan clamped down on defense in the second half to edge Marist 12-10 on Wednesday afternoon at Gaelic Park.
The Jaspers win their second game in a row to boost their MAAC record to 2-0 and their overall record to 7-3. The Red Foxes fall to 1-1 in conference and 4-6 in 2019.
Marist sported a 7-4 advantage, its largest lead in the game, with 8:13 remaining in the first half. Senior tri-captain
Molly Fitzpatrick (Yorktown, NY / Lakeland) and freshman attacker
Cassidy Burns (Massapequa, NY / Plainedge) scored within a minute apart to trim the deficit to 7-6 before senior attacker
Talia Price (Kinnelon, NJ / Kinnelon) scored the game-tying score with 16 seconds remaining until halftime.
Manhattan broke the ice in the second stanza 2:59 in when Burgess wrapped around the right side of the net and zipped a shot past Marist netminder Delaney Galvin for Manhattan's first lead of the day at 8-7. Both sides went silent on offense for the next 13:23 before Burns fed Fitzpatrick for a cutting strike at the 13:38 mark. The Red Foxes got within 9-8 before Murphy and freshman attacker
Grace Lipponer (Lake Grove, NY / Sachem North) potted key insurance goals to pad the Jasper advantage.
Murphy and Burns tied for the team lead with four points each; Burns had one goal and three assists. Fitzpatrick compiled three goals for her seventh hat trick of the season.
Samantha Mehalick paced Marist with four goals and an assist, while Kelly George added two scores and a helper.
The Kelly Green and White completes its MAAC homestand 2-0 and heads into a pivotal road contest on Saturday, March 30 at Siena, who is also 2-0 in MAAC play. The first draw is tabbed for 12:00 pm.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Manhattan starts 2-0 against conference foes for the first time since 2005, when it jumped out to a 3-0 start in the MAAC.
- The Jaspers also get their first win over the Red Foxes since 2015.
- With two ground balls in the contest, senior tri-captain Nikki Prestiano (Yorktown Heights, NY / Yorktown) now has 100 for her career.
- The goalkeeper also made seven stops in the win.
- Burns collected three assists for a second-consecutive game and has five multi-assists affairs under her belt. She is two helpers shy of matching the rookie single-season record.
- Fitzpatrick moved into fourth place on Manhattan's all-time goals list with 116 scores, surpassing Mary Dudek '05. She also extended her multi-goal streak to 14 games, dating back to 2018.
- With a goal and an assist, Lipponer earned her seventh multi-point effort to begin her career.
- Senior tri-captain Emma Kaishian (Yorktown, NY / Yorktown) scooped up six ground balls to move into fourth place all-time in program history with 159, surpassing Ashley Devins '07.
- Kaishian also controlled three draws and caused a career-high eight turnovers, which would ranked second in a game this season across Division I women's lacrosse (pending Wednesday's national results).
- Manhattan edged Marist in successful clears (18-15) and free position goals (3-2).
- The J's also committed 14 turnovers compared to Marist's 21.
FIRST HALF
- Mehalick opened the scoring in the contest with a pair of goals within the first 5:09.
- Fitzpatrick sniped a free position tally from the left wing less than a minute after Mehalick's second, tucking the ball into the left of the net.
- Burgess advanced from the top of the arc and bounced a shot in on a free position attempt to make it 3-2 Marist just under 10 minutes in.
- Murphy's first goal came at the 15:42 mark with Manhattan down two as she weaved through traffic in the left lane and converted in the lower-right corner.
- Marist went ahead 6-3 after that on tallies from George and Hailey Wagner, who went on to collect 14 draw controls on the day.
- With 8:54 until the end of the half, Murphy cut down the left side, firing a one-timer off a pass from Burns into the twine to make it 6-4 Red Foxes.
- Devon Connolly made it 7-4 Marist on a shot that appeared to hit the right post, but the officials ruled it went in beforehand.
- After a free position attempt was blocked, Fitzpatrick nabbed the loose ball and put it in an open net at the 7:26 mark.
- Burns scored with 6:12 remaining, fending off a Red Fox from the right of the net and blasting a four-meter shot in the lower-left corner.
- On Price's strike, freshman midfielder Annie Freshour (Smithtown, NY / Smithtown East) found her at the top of the 12-meter fan. Price shot from seven meters away into the lower-left section of the goal.
SECOND HALF
- Burgess pivoted twice to get a left-handed shot that put Manhattan ahead at the start of the stanza.
- Working in transition with 13:38 left, Burns connected with Fitzpatrick, who sneaked through unattended to complete the hat trick.
- Murphy put some heat on her free position shot at the 11:43 mark, hitting the upper-right corner for the goal that made it 10-8.
- From behind the net, Burns found Lipponer beside the left post, and the Sachem North product fit her shot in the top-right shelf for an 11-8 advantage.
- George got a pass from Mehalick and dumped it in with 5:19 to play.
- Manhattan capped its scoring when Lipponer tossed it to Murphy, who got behind the Marist defense in front of the net to score at the 4:12 mark.
