Three players recorded hat tricks to lift Canisius to a 18-3 victory over Manhattan in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference women’s lacrosse action Saturday morning at the Gaelic Park in Riverdale, N.Y.

The Golden Griffins opened conference action with a victory for the third time in the past five years as they improved to 7-2 overall. Manhattan drops to 1-9 overall and 0-1 in league play with the loss.

Juniors Maddie Fitzgerald, Ashlyn Dhandwar and freshman Ella Forcucci made up the triplet of Griffs that scored three times. Junior Megan Previdi notched a game-high six points with two goals and four assists as she tallied her 100th career point in the contest. Juniors Bridget Brown and Harper Weatherdon each picked up a game-best three ground balls. Graduate student Isabel Gautreaux made 13 saves on 16 shots for a season-high .813 save percentage and shut out the Jaspers in the opening half.

Lauren Maher was involved in each of the Jaspers three scores throughout the game, scoring two times and dishing out an assist to Audrey Ziff. Teammate Naomi Aristone won a game-high six draw controls as Manhattan recorded a 15-8 advantage in draw controls. Goaltender Sophie Pasnak faced 29 shots in the contest and finished with 11 saves.

Sophomore Leah Pfeiffer opened up the Griffs offense outburst 3:46 into the game that started a 10-0 run that lasted until the halftime horn. The stretch saw six different Griffs record scoring marks with Pfeiffer, Previdi, Fitzgerald and Forcucci finding the back of the net twice.

Out of the intermission, Manhattan scored two goals in the span of 2:29 to dig into the deficit, however, the spurt was answered two minutes later when sophomore Makenna Crouse scored. The Canisius goal started an 8-0 run that increased the Griffs lead to 18-2 with 7:15 remaining in the final quarter. A late score from Manhattan ended the drought at the 3:06 mark before the Blue and Gold finished off the victory.

GAME NOTES

• Saturday’s game was the 27th all-time meeting between the two programs. Canisius holds a 16-11 record against Manhattan and has won 15 of its last 17 contests dating back to 2008.

• The Blue and Gold have scored 15-or-more goals in six games this season and have scored in double digits in 12 straight games dating back to last season.

• Canisius has limited its opponent to single-digit scores in four games this season.

• Previdi is the second Griff to reach 100 career points this season. Senior Meg Hiltz scored her 100th career point on Mar. 5 against Mercyhurst. Maddie Fitzgerald sits 11 points away from the 100 point plateau.

• Canisius recorded a 19-11 advantage in ground balls throughout the contest.

UP NEXT

Canisius hosts Quinnipiac on Wednesday for their first home conference game of the season. Opening draw between the Griffs and Bobcats is slated for 3 p.m. at the Demske Sports Complex in Buffalo, N.Y. and can be viewed on ESPN+.

Like Canisius Athletics on Facebook

Follow @GoGriffs and @CanisiusWLAX on X

Follow @GoGriffs and @CanisiusWLAX on Instagram