Box Score Boxscore
PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville Valiants field hockey team opened their Freedom Conference season with a win over Delaware Valley as junior
Kayla Meenan (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent) scored twice in the 4-2 victory on Saturday afternoon.
Manhattanville possessed the ball for the opening 15 minutes of the game, collecting nine shots in the process before Delaware Valley was able to get their first shot off at the 14:52 mark of the first half.
The two teams continued in their stalemate until the Valiants were able to break through on the scoreboard when sophomore Alyssa Tourdot (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) broke through for her third goal of the season on an assist from sophomore Amanda DeChent (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley). The two teams continued to play defensive hockey up until the intermission.
After halftime, the Aggies quickly tied the game at one just under two minutes into the second half when Krystle Mazza tipped in a rebound off Valiant goalkeeper Amy Hilton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Kents Hill (Maine)). The Aggies took the next three shots with Hilton making saves on the two that got through the Valiant defense.
Manhattanville responded to the Delaware Valley goal by ripping off five consecutive shots with DeChent taking the fifth and breaking the deadlock. DeChent received the pass from freshman Sydney Asselstine (Hartington, Ontario/Sydenham) inside the box and sent the shot through traffic and into the back of the cage.
The Valiant offense continued to rattle off shots keeping Aggies goalkeeper Hollis Hancock on her toes and in the air. At the 51:09 mark sophomore Chelsea Klein (Reading, Pa./Exeter) took a shot that forced Hancock to make a leaping save from her left to right, moments later off the rebound DeChent took another shot that Hancock needed to dive for towards the left side of the goal.
The Valiants added an insurance goal at the 64:50 mark when Meenan scored her first of the afternoon. The assist was credited to junior Melissa Goncalves (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) who had a solid game controlling the play in the middle of the field for the Valiant midfield line.
The Aggies continued to battle and kept themselves in the game off of a penalty corner that saw Leah Hawthorn trim the lead to one off of a pass from Maddie Raville.
After a diving save by Hancock, Meenan made a great individual effort to take the ball away from the Aggies and brought the ball around the goalkeeper and into the goal to cap off the scoring for the Valiants to give the home team the 4-2 victory.
Manhattanville was well in control in terms of shots on the game, outshooting their opponents 37-11 with the shots on goal at a 21-5 margin. The Valiants also led in penalty corners taking 10 to the Aggies seven.
In goal, Hilton made three saves while collecting her sixth win of the season. Taking the loss was Hancock to fall to 2-5 on the year while making 17 saves in defeat.
The Valiants (6-1, 1-0) will return home on Wednesday afternoon to play Western New England at 6:00 p.m. as part of a Manhattanville triple-header with both women's and men's soccer, all three game can be seen live on GoValiants.TV. The Aggies (2-5, 0-1) continue on the road to take on Alvernia this Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.
