Boxscore

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Saint Joseph (Conn.) College scored four goals in the first half, including three tallies less than five minutes apart, to deal Manhattanville a 4-2 defeat in a non-conference women's soccer matchup on Saturday afternoon at SJC Field.

Freshman Patricia Nolan was the offensive star of the game for the Blue Jays, scoring the first two goals of her collegiate career to give the home team an early lead. Classmate Nicole Mendelson and junior Stacey Rutledge also scored for Saint Joseph, while sophomore Morgan Rebollal (Holtsville, N.Y.) and freshman Deborah Gilwit (New Rochelle, N.Y.) notched tallies for Manhattanville in a losing effort.

Despite holding a 13-9 edge in total shots, Manhattanville could not fully rebound after Saint Joseph came out firing and put the visitors in an early hole. A mere 2:09 into the contest, Nolan took a pass from sophomore Chrissy Witham and found the back of the net for her first of the game, giving the home team an early 1-0 lead.

Manhattanville managed to fend off that initial challenge quickly, however, as senior Holly Nonis (Brampton, Ontario) fed Rebollal for her first tally of the season only 4:13 later to tie the score at one less than seven minutes into the match.

But things fell apart for Manhattanville midway through the half, as the Blue Jays scored three times in 4:06 to stun the Valiants and take a 4-1 lead. Nolan got the scoring started with her second of the game at the 16:57 mark, and that was followed exactly three minutes later by Mendelson's first of the year at 19:57 to double the deficit. To top it off, Saint Joseph was awarded a penalty kick 1:06 later and Rutledge converted the chance from the spot to put the home team up by three.

Headed into the half down by a trio of tallies, the Valiants came out in the second half and applied plenty of pressure to the home team, posting a 7-2 edge in shots and taking the first five shots of the frame. However, it was not until the 86th minute that the team found the net again, as Gilwit tallied the first of her collegiate career unassisted, and by that point it was too late for any true comeback on the part of Manhattanville.

Junior Holly Mirabella made five saves and allowed two goals in the full 90 minutes of play to pick up her second win of the year, while Valiant senior goalie Ali Bromson (Suffield, Conn.) made four saves and allowed all four scores to suffer the loss.

Manhattanville (0-2, 0-0 Freedom) hopes that a return home will spell an end to its two-game losing streak, as the Valiants welcome Farmingdale State College to GoValiants.com Field for the team's 2010 home opener on Wednesday at 7 p.m.  Live coverage of the game will begin on GoValiants.TV at approximately 6:55 p.m. Saint Joseph (2-0, 0-0 GNAC) will travel to Bay Path College on Wednesday at 4 p.m.