BUFFALO, N.Y. - Senior attacker Chrissy Gutenberger scored three goals while Donna Jo DiNorcia and Kelsey Rehain notched two tallies a piece but it wasn't enough as the Manhattan women's lacrosse team fell 17-9 to Canisius in their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opener on Saturday.
Canisius (4-5, 1-0 MAAC) scored the first five goals of the contest, including two from Lindsey Morgan before senior BrieAnna Spatarella got the Jaspers on the board with a goal at the 16:06 mark of the first half. Morgan added two more of her game high five goals in the first frame to help the Golden Griffins to a 9-2 advantage going into the halftime break.
Out of the locker room, Canisius scored three of the next four goals to take a 12-3 lead with 21:56 remaining in regulation. Gutenberger would then score back-to-back goals to try and cut into the deficit. It would begin a string of five goals out of the next seven for the Jaspers (2-7, 0-1 MAAC) including scores from Rehain, DiNorcia and Carly Eskenazi.
With Manhattan trailing 14-8 with fewer than nine minutes to play, Canisius was able to add three more to put the contest out of reach. Gutenberger added her 30th goal of the season on a free position shot for the final Jasper goal of the game.
Manhattan was outshot 35-26 and turned the ball over 21 times compared to the Griffs 14. Canisius was able to pick up more ground balls, 24 to 18, while winning 16 of the 28 draw controls. The Jaspers were 3-9 in free position shots and the Golden Griffs were 4-8 in their attempts. Manhattan struggled on the clear, being successful in 15 of 22 attempts. Canisius was 17-21 in their tries.
Freshman goalkeeper Christina Fiorinelli (2-7) made nine saves in the loss for Manhattan. Canisius used two goalies with Kayla Scully (2-2) playing more than 53 minutes, giving up six goals and making 11 saves.
The Jaspers finish up their four game road trip and will return to Gaelic Park on Wednesday, April 4, when they host MAAC rival Marist for a 7 p.m. tilt.
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