Riverdale, NY – Concluding its first week of the 2019 season at 1-1, Manhattan Women's Lacrosse returns to Gaelic Park for a pair of games against LIU Brooklyn and Lafayette.
The Blackbirds trek from Brooklyn to the Bronx on Wednesday, February 27 for a 4:00 pm start. The match will be streamed live on the Jasper Sports Network, with the athletic department providing live statistics.
Later in the week, the Jaspers play the Leopards on Saturday, March 2 at 1:00 pm. Fans will have access to live stats and updates from the Manhattan women's lacrosse Twitter account for this contest.
LAST TIME OUT
- Senior midfielder Caitlin Murphy recorded three points, senior goalkeeper Nikki Prestiano made eight saves and the Kelly Green and White outscored La Salle 7-1 in the second half to beat the Explorers 9-4 on Saturday, February 23.
- Senior attacker Molly Fitzpatrick notched two goals to enter into the top 10 in Manhattan's all-time goals list.
- Manhattan had the edge over La Salle in shots (25-21), ground balls (22-18) and clears (20-16).
PRESTIANO, LIPPONER GAIN MAAC RECOGNITION
- On Monday, Prestiano and freshman attacker Grace Lipponer were respectively named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week for February 25.
- The award is Prestiano's fourth career Defensive Player of the Week award.
- Lipponer is Manhattan's first Rookie of the Week since March 17, 2017.
- It is the first time since February 15, 2016 that the J's have multiple award winners in the same week.
NATIONAL STATS
- Entering Tuesday, Manhattan is eighth in the nation in scoring defense (7.00 goals per game) and 13th in ground balls per game (25.00).
- Prestiano is seventh amongst Division I netminders in goals-against average, sixth in ground balls per game and ninth with a .576 save-percentage.
- Fitzpatrick is one of 11 players in Division I women's lacrosse that has a perfect free-position percentage (minimum one free-position shot per game and player must play in 75 percent of team's games).
TEAM LEADERS
- Murphy, Fitzpatrick and Lipponer are tied for the team lead with four points in the early campaign.
- Fitzpatrick and Lipponer have a team-best four goals, the latter a team-high eight shots.
- Murphy is tops with a pair of assists.
- Prestiano leads with nine ground balls, while junior defender Susan Morad leads all non-goalkeepers with six.
- Senior defender Emma Kaishian has controlled seven draws.
- Kaishian and Murphy have each caused three turnovers.
SCORING BREAKDOWN
- Every class has recorded multiple points in the first two games. Here are the splits for Manhattan's 22 points:
- Thirteen of the Jaspers' 16 goals have come from the attack, with the remaining tallies from midfielders.
SCOUTING REPORT: LIU BROOKLYN
- LIU Brooklyn seeks its first win of the season after dropping their first three games to Rutgers, La Salle and MAAC-foe Quinnipiac.
- The Blackbirds fell to the Bobcats 14-8 in Hamden, CT despite three points from Bianca Santucci.
- Amanda Masullo paces the squad with five goals and 15 shots. Sam Kidd has earned the lion's share of minutes between the pipes and carries a .390 save-percentage with 30 stops.
- Seventh-year Head Coach Allison Hanley returned nine letterwinners from 2018 and recruited eight newcomers to the team.
SERIES HISTORY
- The two sides last squared off on March 18, 2017, a 15-12 Manhattan victory in Greenvale, NY.
- Fitzpatrick netted five points while Sandford netted four goals to lead the Jasper attack.
- Wednesday is the 12th all-time meeting between the Jaspers and the Blackbirds.
- Manhattan sports a 9-2 edge in the series.
SCOUTING REPORT: LAFAYETTE
- Lafayette comes into Saturday's tilt 3-0, coming off an 18-1 rout of St. Bonaventure, a 14-6 win over MAAC-foe Iona and a 13-10 slugfest vs. Temple.
- Jane Kirby headlines the Lafayette attack, entering this week with nine goals and 11 points. She is fourth in the nation in goals per game and fifth with seven shots on goal per game.
- Quinn Lacy is Division I's best goalkeeper in terms of save-percentage (.750) and goals-against average (3.50).
- The Leopards feature the lowest scoring defense, are 11th with 14 caused turnovers per contest and 20th with 33.5 shots per affair.
SERIES HISTORY
- Manhattan aims to avenge a 12-9 loss to Lafayette in Easton, PA back on February 28, 2018.
- With the seventh all-time meeting coming up, the Leopards are 4-2 against the Jaspers, with those four wins coming in the last four matchups.
- A win would mark the first in the series for Manhattan since March 4, 2009, an 18-10 result.
- In her Manhattan career, Fitzpatrick has seven goals against Lafayette.
