Riverdale, NY – Manhattan stayed in postseason contention until the last day of the regular season and up until final horn, but the playoff quest ended Wednesday evening as Fairfield topped the Jaspers 14-9 at Gaelic Park.
With the win, Fairfield finished with a share of the MAAC regular season title at 6-2 and enters the tournament as the #3 seed. Manhattan concludes its 2018 campaign at 5-11 with a 2-6 conference record.
Coming into the day, the Jaspers needed an Iona loss combined with a win against Fairfield. The Gaels played their part, falling 16-11 to Monmouth earlier in the day.
However, Fairfield bolted out of the gate with three straight goals, including two from senior Olivia Russell, within the first eight minutes of the game.
The Kelly Green and White stopped the short run at the 13:26 mark. Senior co-captain Sarah Lang (Golden's Bridge, NY / Vermont) worked the side of the net and fed junior Molly Fitzpatrick (Yorktown, NY / Lakeland), who cut down the middle and scored.
Twenty-eight seconds after that, junior Caitlin Murphy (Carmel, NY / Carmel) drew a foul inside the eight-meter arc and fired a free-position shot past Stags netminder Paulina DiFatta to make it 3-2 with 13 minutes left until halftime.
Unfortunately, Manhattan could not find the equalizer as both teams traded two goals apiece. Russell and junior Taylor Mitchell lit the lamp for Fairfield off a pair of assists from senior Brenna Connolly. Meanwhile, the Jaspers found free-position goals from the sticks of Fitzpatrick and senior co-captain Kara Hodapp (Oak Ridge, NY / Jefferson Township).
The Stags notched two goals in the final 3:30 of the first half to push their lead to 7-4 at the break.
Like the first half, Fairfield opened the second stanza with three straight tallies, including one on a woman-up opportunity. Manhattan junior Talia Price (Kinnelon, NJ / Kinnelon) stopped that streak when she bursted down the middle and buried her ninth goal of the season.
With the score 13-6 in favor of Fairfield and 10 minutes remaining, sophomore Emily Englert (Somers, NY / Somers) whipped a shot on net that DiFatta deflected. The ball went right into freshman Grace Owens' (Tampa, FL / H.B. Plant) pocket, and she placed the ball in from the side to nab her sixth goal in 2018.
Less than a minute later, Lang recorded the final goal of her collegiate career, receiving a Fitzpatrick pass in front of the net and shooting towards the top left corner to cut Fairfield's lead to 13-8.
Hodapp registered her final collegiate goal at the 1:22 mark of the second half. In a typical play from the midfielder, she charged in from the top of the 12-meter fan and unleashed a high-low shot despite contact from a Stag.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Manhattan scooped up 15 ground balls in the first half and controlled more draws in the game (13-12).
- Junior Nikki Prestiano (Yorktown Heights, NY / Yorktown) compiled nine saves in the cage. She finished the year with a career-low 11.39 goals-against average.
- Classmate Emma Kaishian (Yorktown, NY / Yorktown) led the Jaspers with six ground balls, five draw controls and three caused turnovers.
- Lang caps her Manhattan career with 74 goals, 31 assists and 105 points, the latter of which is tied for 17th place on the Jaspers' all-time points list.
- Hodapp now sits tied for fourth in career games played in a Jasper uniform, earning 90 points in 66 games.
- Fitzpatrick (three goals, one assist) has notched 30 goals in two straight seasons, and heads into the offseason with 130 career points. She surpassed Jenny Carman '07 and Rory Maguire '02 for sixth place all-time.
- Manhattan collected 62 more ground balls and caused 16 more turnovers than they did in 2017.
- In addition to Lang and Hodapp, Manhattan graduates Molly Flores, Melissa Vogelgesang, Liz Pierson, Katie Tucker, Julia LoRusso and Maddie Regal from the program.
UP NEXT
The MAAC will announce its All-Conference selections, as Manhattan waits to see if any Jaspers will hear their names called. In the big picture, the Class of 2018 will graduate this May at Draddy Gymnasium. As the team prepares for 2019, Manhattan will welcome eight new members to the team as part of the Class of 2022 this fall.