Box Score Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF)New Britain, CT - Manhattan scored the first three goals and never looked back en route to postng a 9-8 wire-to-wire win over Central Connecticut State at Arute Field.
With the victory, the Jaspers improve to 3-4 while the Blue Devils fall to 0-5.
Junior Sarah Land (Golden's Bridge, NY / Vermont) opened the scoring before senior Kaitlyn Cunningham and sophomore Kara Hodapp (Oak Ridge, NJ / Jefferson Township) followed suit with scores as Manhattan led 3-0 with 24:42 to play in the opening half.
CCSU finally found the back of the net before senior
Megan Yarusso (Brewster, NY / Brewster) and junior
Darby Nolan (Oakridge, NJ / Jefferson Township) answered the bell in stretching the Jasper advantage out to 5-1 at the 16:49 mark of the first half.
Down but not out, the Blue Devils ripped off a 5-1 run in tying the game up at 6-6 with 26:11 to play.
Sophomore
Melissa Vogelgesang (Downingtown, PA / Downingtown West) then quelled the bleeding with her second goal of the year in sparking a game-changing 3-0 Manhattan run, capped by a pair of scores from Yarusso, .
Leading by three with just over 10 minutes to play, the Jaspers weathered a late Blue Devil rally over the final three minutes to come away with a hard-fought 9-8 road win.
Yarusso scored three goals with an assist to lead the way for Manhattan while freshman Nikki Prestiano (Cortlandt Manor, NY / Yorktown) made six saves in earning the victory between the pipes.
Marissa Soto paced CCSU with three goals.
The Jaspers return to action against New Hampshire on Saturday, March 19 with first draw slated for 11:00 am at Gaelic Park.
