Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's soccer team dominated the time of possession for almost a full 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon, but Delaware Valley's Marianne Morton scored on her team's only good scoring chance of the day and the goal held up to give the Aggies a 1-0 win over the Valiants in Freedom Conference action at GoValiants.com Field.
 
The result moves Manhattanville (5-8, 1-3 Freedom) and Delaware Valley (3-9, 1-3 Freedom) into a three-way tie for sixth place in the Freedom Conference with three matches remaining, pending results from later in the day. As a result, the Valiants will likely have to win three straight Freedom matches to get back to the postseason.
 
The loss was especially heartbreaking for Manhattanville due to its level of play throughout the match, as the home team held a huge edge in possession and posted a 19-7 edge in shots. But despite getting multiple excellent chances on goal, Delaware Valley keeper Julie Burnell was superb in stopping all 11 shots she faced to earn the win.
 
The first half saw Manhattanville possess the ball for large portions of the frame, but despite a 6-2 edge in shots neither team had many promising chances at goal.
 
To start the second half, Manhattanville maintained possession almost exclusively on the offensive side of midfield throughout the first 25 minutes, and had several quality chances to score first. The Valiants were especially dangerous off of short corner kicks, resulting in two good opportunities by sophomore Erika Deetjen (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro South) that were denied by Burnell.
 
But despite controlling play from a possession standpoint, it was Delaware Valley that managed to get on the scoreboard with 15:01 remaining in the second half. Kara Fecanin forced a turnover on the defensive side of midfield and then fed a great through ball to Morton, who went one on one with freshman keeper Grace Kraemer (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and beat her to the near side for her team-leading fourth tally of the year.
 
The Valiants continued to press on after the Aggie goal, putting seven more shots toward the DelVal net. The team's best chance of the match came with less than three minutes remaining, when senior Brittney Smith (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) put a ball across the box to sophomore Tori Lettieri (St. James, N.Y./Smithtown East) for a one-touch shot, but Burnell somehow punched the ball away with a diving save to keep her team ahead for good.
 
For the match, Manhattanville had that 19-7 edge in shots and an 11-2 edge in shots on goal, but Burnell's 11 saves turned the result the way of the visitors. Kraemer made one save on two shots for the Valiants on the day.
 
Manhattanville will return to the road for the next three matches, beginning on Tuesday with a Freedom Conference matchup at DeSales beginning at 3 p.m.