RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Tied 3-3 midway through the first half, Manhattan scored six unanswered goals as the Saint Joseph's women's lacrosse team ultimately fell to Manhattan, 13-6, on Saturday afternoon at Gaelic Park. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 2-3 overall.
Tied 3-3 at the 14:37 mark of the first half, Manhattan (1-4) went on a 6-0 run that spanned the remainder of the first and 2:54 into the second half to expand its lead over Saint Joseph's, 9-3.
After a Manhattan foul at the 21:29 mark, Saint Joseph's sophomore attack Bianca Angstadt was set up with a free position opportunity and converted the play to bring the Hawks to within five goals, 9-4.
Manhattan's Kaitlyn Cunningham would answer with her third goal of the game at the 13:27 mark to extend the Jaspers' lead back up to six goals.
The Hawks would answer back, however, as junior midfielder Julia Falcone netted her seventh goal of the season on sophomore attack Emily Bowers' 11th assist of the season to bring the Hawks back to within five goals, 10-5, with 10:38 remaining in regulation.
From there, Manhattan would go on a 3-1 run that spanned the remainder of the game to extend its lead out to seven goals, 13-6, as time expired.
Saint Joseph's sophomore Kelly Phelan scored the game's first goal on a free position shot just three minutes into the first half to give the Hawks the early 1-0 advantage.
The Jaspers responded with three consecutive goals, the first two coming in the form of free position shots, to jump ahead 3-1 with 18:47 remaining in the first.
However, senior attack Val Paolucci would be a crucial factor in the next two scoring plays for the Crimson and Gray as she scored SJU's second goal of the game on an assist from Bowers at the 15:57 mark and then assisted on freshman attack Nora McCallion's goal just 1:20 later to equalize the score, 3-3.
Paolucci (1G, 1A) led six different Hawks in scoring and McCallion (1G) took a team-high five shots while Bowers added a team-high two assists from the attack. With her first assist on Paolucci's goal at the 15:57 mark of the first half, Bowers has now registered a point in 10 consecutive games dating back to April 7 of last season.
Kaitlyn McSwiggan was a force on the defensive end of the field as the senior caused a game-high six turnovers and added three ground balls. Classmate Brittany Hanrahan also added three ground balls on the defensive end.
Sophomore goalkeeper Genevieve Giblin (2-3) made eight saves in a full-game effort.
Manhattan dominated from the draw as the Jaspers won 16 of the game's 21 total draw controls and also held advantages in shots (25-19) and ground balls (19-18). The Hawks were awarded seven total FPS on the day but converted on just two opportunities while the Jaspers converted on 3-of-4 FPS, all in the first half.
Manhattan's Kaitlyn Cunningham led the Jaspers with three goals and an assist.
Saint Joseph's returns to action this Tuesday, March 11 down in DeLand, Fla. to take on the Stetson Hatters (0-8). Start time at the Athletic Training Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
