Box Score Boxscore
DANBURY, Conn. - The Manhattanville field hockey team fell on Wednesday evening to Western Connecticut State by the score of 2-0 in Danbury, Conn., with the loss the Valiants fall to a 9-4 overall record on the season.
Western Connecticut opened the game with a shot less than a minute into the contest that was stopped by sophomore goalkeeper
Amy Hilton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Kents Hill (Maine)). The two teams continued to exchange shots back and forth until the 16:22 mark when the Colonials struck first for the 1-0 lead.
The Valiants had their best opportunity of the first half with 3:13 remaining when junior Kayla Meenan (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) hit the post. Manhattanville was outshot by their hosts by a 10-7 margin in the first half, with sophomore Amanda DeChent (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) taking three of the seven opportunities.
After the break each team pulled the trigger on two shots each during the first 10 minutes of the second period with no success. At the beginning of the 52nd minute of play Hilton came up with a save on a shot by Sam Gigante but was unable to control the rebound as the ball found its way back onto Gigante's stick and then into the goal for the 2-0 lead.
The Valiants were able to muster six more shots in the final 16 minutes with no luck as the Colonials held on for the 2-0 shutout.
In terms of shots the Colonials were ahead at a 17-14 margin, while shots on goal were even at seven a piece. Penalty corners were also favor of the home team as they took seven to Manhattanville's six.
In goal Hilton falls to 9-4 on the year while making five saves and allowing the two goals to Western Connecticut. For the Colonials Alyssa Picariello also made five saves to move to 8-5 on the year, a pair of Western Connecticut players also registered defensive saves.
Manhattanville (9-4, 2-1 Freedom) will return to Freedom Conference play when they travel to Eastern University to take on the defending conference champion Eagles at 1:00 p.m. The Colonials (8-5, 3-4 Little East) will also return to conference play on Friday when they take on Fitchburg State at 7:00 p.m.
