Boxscore

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The first victory of the season continued to elude the Valiant women's soccer team on Wednesday afternoon, as sophomore Samantha Abravanel came off the bench to score twice in leading SUNY New Paltz to a 3-0 victory over Manhattanville in a non-conference contest at the New Paltz Turf Field.

Manhattanville came out with some pressure to start the afternoon, taking the first three shots of the contest, but the advantage switched soon after Abravanel entered in the 18th minute. Less than five minutes later, she took passes from sophomore Beth Bowling and junior Alexa Balestrieri and found the net at 23:49 of the first half to open the scoring.

New Paltz then put the Valiants in a deep hole just before halftime, scoring with 91 seconds remaining in the first frame to take a two-goal edge into intermission. Freshman Jessica Bonczyk found sophomore Erin Tornatore inside the Valiant 18-yard box and Tornatore beat senior Ali Bromson (Suffield, Conn.) for her second of the year.

Coming out of halftime, freshman Deborah Gilwit (New Rochelle, N.Y.) put the first shot on goal of the second half, but her shot from the top of the box was saved by sophomore Stephanie Vega. The Valiants continued to pressure the Hawks, as senior Holly Nonis (Brampton, Ontario) fired a pair of her match-leading eight shots, but the visitors could not find the back of the net.

Abravanel then put the match away at the 77:53 mark, taking passes from Bowling and Balestrieri yet again and netting her third goal of the year. New Paltz continued to pad its shots on goal totals late in the contest, as Bromson turned aside three attempts in the final 6:09 to keep the deficit at three.

The match was not as one-sided as the score might indicate, with nearly all the statistical totals falling just barely the way of the home team. New Paltz took 18 shots to Manhattanville's 17 and earned four corners to the visitors' three; however, the only big difference came in shots on goal, as New Paltz put 12 on target and MVille only six.

As a result, Bromson was called upon to make nine saves in the 90 minutes, but it was not enough to get the Valiants a victory. Vega turned aside all six shots she faced to earn the shutout win for New Paltz.

Manhattanville (0-9) will look to finally turn the corner on Saturday afternoon, when the Valiants ring in the month of October and commence Freedom Conference play at 1 p.m. at DeSales University. New Paltz (3-6-1) hosts SUNY Brockport on Friday at 4 p.m.