The Jaspers earn their first home win of 2019 and have won straight, improving to 2-1. The Blackbirds stumble to 0-4 on the season.
Manhattan was stellar in the first half, recording six goals while shutting out the Blackbirds' offense. When LIU Brooklyn cut the lead to 7-6 in the second half, junior midfielder Deb Peifer (Collegeville, PA / Methacton) rolled from the right side and whipped a shot into the upper-right of the cage for an 8-6 edge. Less than a minute later, senior midfielder Caitlin Murphy (Carmel, NY / Carmel) found sophomore attacker Alaina Burgess (Holden, MA / The Governor's Academy) cutting through the middle, and Burgess scored to make it a three-goal game with 14:20 to play.
Senior tri-captain Nikki Prestiano (Yorktown Heights, NY / Yorktown) made 10 saves in net, allowing seven goals.
The Kelly Green and White focuses its attention to Saturday, March 2 when they host unbeaten Lafayette at 1:00 pm.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Manhattan shut out an opponent in a half for the first time since March 10, 2018, when it held Wofford off the scoreboard in the first half.
- In the opening stanza, the Jaspers outshot LIU Brooklyn 19-8 and controlled five draws to the Blackbirds' two.
- Fitzpatrick is now eighth in program history in career goals with 96, surpassing Caralyn Hickey '10. She is one shy of Phelicia VanOverbeke '11 for seventh on the list.
- It is also the 11th time in her tenure Fitzpatrick has scored four times in a game. She has a squad-best eight tallies.
- Lipponer earned her first career assists, all of them on Fitzpatrick goals, and now leads the team with nine points.
- Freshman midfielder Annie Freshour (Smithtown, NY / Smithtown East) deposited the first goal of her career. A Jasper has accomplished that in three consecutive games.
- Prestiano boosted her season save-percentage to .580.
- Peifer's performance, a goal and an assist, was the first multi-point effort of her career.
- In addition to her score, Burgess also gained her first-career assist.
- Senior tri-captain Emma Kaishian (Yorktown, NY / Yorktown) led the team with seven ground balls as well as a pair of caused turnovers and draw controls. Fitzpatrick also caused two turnovers, while junior midfielder Emily Sandford (Floral Park, NY / Sacred Heart) and fresman attacked Cassidy Burns (Massapequa, NY / Plainedge) controlled two draws.
FIRST HALF
- Lipponer opened the scoring at exactly the five-minute mark of the first half.
- Fitzpatrick beat LIU Brooklyn keeper Sam Kidd to the right on the free-position to make it 2-0 with 17:25 until halftime.
- Just after the midpoint, Lipponer stood atop the eight-meter arc on the free-position attempt, took two steps forward and flung it in past Kidd.
- At 11:53, Burns tossed it to Peifer up top, who floated it to a weaving Freshour for the rookie's score.
- Behind the net with 8:54 remaining, Lipponer passed to Fitzpatrick and the senior broke around the goal and lofted the shot over Kidd's head.
- After missing high on a free-position opportunity, Fitzpatrick redeemed herself, catching a pass from Lipponer from behind the cage and finding nylon with 3:26 left in the period.
SECOND HALF
- LIU Brooklyn found the back of the net four times in the first 10 minutes, but Lipponer and Fitzpatrick connected for a third time with 18:34 on the clock to break the run.
- At 15:20, Peifer wanted for the offense to clear the zone, then dashed through the middle and made it an 8-6 ballgame.
- At 14:27, Murphy went left off a Peifer screen and dished it to Burgess, who narrowly beat a Blackbird defender for the goal.
- Five of Prestiano's 10 stops came after Burgess' goal, including a nab that denied Elise Person from close-range on the left wing with 12:57 remaining.
- Her final save of the evening came off a free-position halt coming from Bianca Santucci.