Box Score Boxscore
MADISON, N.J. – The Manhattanville field hockey season came to an end Wednesday night as the Valiants fell to the FDU-Florham Devils by a score of 5-0 during the Freedom Conference Championship semifinals at Shields Field in Madison, N.J.
The Valiants who lost to the Devils just eight days ago at home, struggled to get any offense going throughout the contest. Junior Kayla Meenan (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) got the first two shots of the game for either side, but was unable to put the ball past Devil keeper Tess Loughran.
Both sides remained locked in a scoreless battle until the 22:17 point of the period when FDU-Florham broke open the scoring to take the 1-0 lead. At the 30:46 mark, FDU-Florham was awarded with a penalty corner and eventually turned that into a 2-0 lead for the home team heading into halftime.
After the break, Meenan opened the period with a quick penalty corner that resulted in her receiving the pass back and taking a shot that went wide of the goal. Like the first period both teams started off slow and exchanged shots back and forth that were stopped by Loughran and Valiant sophomore goalkeeper Amy Hilton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Kents Hill (Maine)).
At 52:06 of the game Lanie Andrews broke away from the pack and beat two Valiant defenders and Hilton to give the Devils a 3-0 lead.
Less than three minutes later Manhattanville was given a penalty corner that resulted in the ball in the back of the goal; however, the ball was struck out of mid-air by a high stick and the goal was called off. With the call, the momentum shifted right back into the hands of FDU-Florham, who marched right down the field and scored once again.
The clock continued to run towards the end of Manhattanville's season with their opponents continuing to take shot after shot, and on the last penalty corner of the contest with 90 seconds remaining the Valiants ceded their fifth goal of the game.
Shots were in favor of the Devils at a 15-8 margin while leading 10-5 in shots on goal. Five of Manhattanville's eight were taken by Meenan. Penalty corners were fairly close at a 7-6 differential in favor of the hosts, who made the most of their corner opportunities. Hilton made five saves in the contest for Manhattanville, while Loughran collected the win by also making five saves during her shutout performance.
With the loss the Manhattanville season comes to an end with an 11-8 overall record, marking the most wins and the team's first conference postseason appearance since 2005. FDU-Florham (12-8) will host Eastern in the Freedom Conference Championship game on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.
