Freshman attacker Grace Lipponer (Lake Grove, NY / Sachem North) recorded the first three goals of her collegiate career in the second half, but Vermont staved off a second-half Manhattan surge to take it 10-7 in the Jaspers' 2019 season opener. The Kelly Green and White drop to 0-1 on the young campaign, while the Catamounts improve their record to 2-0. After taking a 5-2 lead into halftime and scoring two quick goals in the second stanza, Vermont went up five goals before the J's rattled off three unanswered goals to push it to 7-5 with 12:46 to play. Junior attacker Emily Englert (Somers, NY / Somers) sandwiched her first goal of the season in between two Lipponer tallies. Senior attacker Molly Fitzpatrick (Yorktown, NY / Lakeland) added two goals, while sophomore attacker Alaina Burgess (Holden, MA / The Governor's Academy) accounted for the rest of the scoring. Senior goalkeeper Nikki Prestiano (Yorktown Heights, NY / Yorktown) made 11 saves while allowing 10 goals. INSIDE THE NUMBERS Lipponer became the first Jasper to notch a hat trick in her collegiate debut since Julia Lavelle potted three goals against Howard on February 21, 2008. Freshmen Cassidy Burns (Massapequa, NY / Plainedge) also got the start in her Manhattan debut. Classmates Annie Freshour (Smithtown, NY / Smithtown East) and Gabby Richter (West Chester, PA / Bishop Shanahan) also trekked the Gaelic Park turf for the first time in their careers. Fitzpatrick collected the 28th multi-goal game of her career. She now has 90 career goals, which is one away from the top 10 all-time. Prestiano now has 16 double-digit save output in her career. She now has 409 career stops as a Jasper. Freshour, senior Caitlin Murphy (Carmel, NY / Carmel), juniors Emily Sandford (Floral Park, NY / Sacred Heart) and Deb Peifer (Collegeville, PA / Methacton) and sophomore Carmella Liscio (Blauvelt, NY / Tappan Zee) registered assists. It was the first-career helpers for Peifer and Freshour. Burns and Fitzpatrick tied for the team lead with four ground balls. Senior defender Emma Kaishian (Yorktown, NY / Yorktown) was tops with five draw controls. Manhattan held a slight advantage in ground balls at 28-27. Vermont retakes the series lead at 3-2. The visitor has won the last two games by a score of 10-7. FIRST HALF Fifty-one seconds in, Vermont's Jenny Caoili rolled right in front of the net, only to have Prestiano deny her high shot for her 400th career save. Burgess registered Manhattan's opening goal of the season 1:48 into the affair by faking out her defender, advancing towards the goal and firing a low-low shot past netminder Maddy Kuras. With about five minutes down in the first half, the Catamounts' Jenna Janes scooped a ground ball off a Jasper turnover and laced a shot on net, forcing Prestiano to catch it chest-high. At 18:13 on the clock in the first with a 1-1 score, Vermont's Grace Giancola worked right from 10 meters out, but Prestiano made a cross-body stop to keep the game level. Fitzpatrick's first tally in 2019 came off a free-position goal with 3:48 until halftime, going high-low to tuck it into the left corner. SECOND HALF Almost halfway through the second half, Caoili weaved through the eight-meter fan for a close-range shot that Prestiano kept out of the net with a save at her neck. Lipponer threaded the needle on a man-up opportunity at the 15:49 mark in the second frame when Sandford dished it to the rookie from the left side, cutting the deficit to 7-3. Forty-eight seconds afterwards, Freshour found Englert cutting from the left. The Somers product slinged it from her right side and scored in the left side of the twine. Lipponer capped the Jaspers' 3-0 run with 12:46 to play in similar circumstances to her first strike: a snipe from her right off a Liscio feed during a man-up chance. After Vermont made it 8-5, Peifer raced past a defender from 25 meters out and found Fitzpatrick, who ducked under two Catamounts and found the back of the net with 6:15 to go. Manhattan capped the scoring at 4:22 in the second when Murp hy tossed it to an open Lipponer, who drove down the left lane and faked Kuras high, sending down a low-low shot to complete the hat trick