Louisville, Ky. -- In its opening game of the season, the Manhattan College women's lacrosse team found itself up 2-0 over the Big East's University of Louisville, but then the Cardinals went on a five goal run right afterward that powered Louisville to a 19-6 victory over the Lady Jaspers in a match played at Louisville.
Junior Phelicia VanOverbeke, who scored the first two goals of the match, had a hat-trick on the afternoon for Manhattan. Sophomore Chrissy Gutenberger,sophomore Elizabeth Dugan and senior Caralyn Hickey chipped in with a goal each. Gutenberger had Manhattan's lone assist.
Defensively for Manhattan sophomore Breana Leonard had three caused turnovers and four ground balls, while Ashley McHale also picked up four ground balls. Freshman goalkeeper Julia DiBernardo had 16 saves in goal for the Lady Jaspers.
For Louisville (now 2-0), Emiy Dashiell and Bergan Foley led the way with four goals each.
After VanOverbeke opened the scoring with two tallies in the first 10 minutes of the match, the Cardinals scored five straight goals before Dugan ended that steak with a tally at 13:03. But then Louisville scored four goals in a little over three minutes to go up 9-3. Gutenberger, however, scored with one minute to go in the half to make the score at halftime 9-4.
Louisville scored three consecutive goals in the second half's first five minutes before VanOverbeke broke that streak to make the score 12-5 at 24:53. Two more goals in a row for the Cardinals made it 14-5 before Hickey scored the Jaspers last goal to make it 14-6 with 18:38 to go. But then Louisville scored five unanswered goals to make the final 19-6.
Manhattan's next game will be in Louisville tomorrow at noon, against NEC power Sacred Heart. Game time is at noon.