Riverdale, NY - Junior Nikki Prestiano (Yorktown Heights, NY / Yorktown) made 13 saves, but it wasn't enough as Manhattan dropped an 11-5 decision to Niagara in MAAC action at Gaelic Park.
Despite the loss, senior Sarah Lang (Goldens Bridge, NY / Vermont) notched two goals while classmate Kara Hodapp (Oak Ridge, NJ / Jefferson Township), junior Molly Fitzpatrick (Yorktown, NY / Lakeland) and classmate Caitlin Murphy (Carmel, NY / Carmel) all had a goal and an assist.
A defensive battle in the early going, Manhattan finally broke through with 12:08 to play in the first half when Fitzpatrick batted the ball in the goal off a pass from junior Talia Price (Kinnelon, NJ / Kinnelon).
Niagara would quickly respond on the next possession before Lang again gave the Jaspers the advantage with a goal off a Hodapp feed at the 8:41 mark.
After the Purple Eagles answered with back-to-back scores in taking their first lead of the game, Murphy netted the equalizer off a free position shot at the 2:11 mark.
Unfortunately, Niagara would reclaim the lead with 25 seconds to play until halftime en route to posting a game-changing 6-1 run in giving the visitors a 9-4 advantage with 20:38 remaining.
Manhattan would get one goal back when Hodapp scored off a beautiful pass from Murphy before the Purple Eagles closed out the victory with two more scores in providing the final 11-5 score.
Freshman Carmella Liscio (Blauvelt, ,NY / Tappan Zee) continued her strong rookie campaign with a team-high four ground balls while junior Emma Kaishian (Yorktown, NY / Yorktown) had three draw controls.
Caroline Crump paced Niagara with four goals while Olivia Schroeder made 12 saves with seven ground balls in moving to 3-2.
The Purple Eagles improve to 5-7 and 2-1 in the MAAC while the Jaspers fall to 3-9 and 0-4 in the league.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Lang now has a career-high 27 goals on the season, surpassing her total from last year.
- Fitzpatrick has now moved into a tie for 12th place on Manhattan's all-time points with 114, joining Caralyn Hickey '10.
- Prestiano reached double figures in saves for the first time since March 3 against Vermont. It is also the fourth time that she compiled more saves than goals allowed.
- Manhattan won the battle in clears, going 20-24 compared to 17-21 for Niagara.
- Hodapp extended her points streak to 13 games and is one goal shy of her career-high.
- Freshman Carmella Liscio (Blauvelt, NY / Tappan Zee) paced Manhattan with four ground balls, which ties her career-high.
UP NEXT
Manhattan returns to action at Iona on Wednesday, April 11 with opening draw slated for 3:00 pm.