Box Score ST. DAVIDS, PA. – Manhattanville senior Amanda DeChent (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) contributed two goals, including the game-winning score 9:52 into overtime, to help steer the Valiant field hockey team past Eastern University by a final score of 4-3 (OT) on Wedneday afternoon in a vital game with Freedom Conference playoff implications.
 
DeChent won the game for the Valiants in the 80th minute on a counter attack as she struck the ball past Eagles goalkeeper Jennifer O'Neill.  This win has Manhattanville currently positioned in third place with a 10-7 (3-2 Freedom) record with two games to go, but the Valiants still need at least one win (and possibly two) to clinch a spot in the postseason.
 
Eastern started off strong and held a 2-0 lead in the 25th minute with goals from Danielle Frasca and Jess Jaindi, but the Valiants refused to give up. Manhattanville's first goal came from sophomore Sharon Konfederak (Buenos Aires, Argentina/The Washington School), as she lobbed a shot over O'Neill in the 28th minute. It only took six more minutes until the Valiants tied the game up with the finish from sophomore Rylee McGuire (Grantham, N.H./Lebanon), who collected the rebound off a DeChent shot and put it home. The assist on the goal was originally credited to DeChent, which would have tied the school's all-time record for career helpers, but it was correctly rescinded.
 
The Valiants were happy to take a 2-2 tie into halftime, considering they trailed by two goals with 10 minutes to play in the first half.  Manhattanville needed a big second half from someone in order to take the victory, and it was the reigning All-American who rose to the occasion.
 
DeChent scored the go-ahead goal in the 46th minute by accepting a pass from Konfederak and dangling around defenders to beat O'Neill for a 3-2 lead. But Eastern tied the game back up in the 58th minute as Lauren Gay collected a rebound off of senior goalkeeper Amy Hilton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Kents Hill (Maine)) and finished for the score.
 
The end of regulation ended with the score tied at three, which meant overtime for the fourth time this year. Both of Manhattanville's Freedom Conference losses were suffered in overtime, but DeChent and the Valiants refused to make it a third. 
 
The visitors had multiple chances early in the overtime, as both DeChent and classmate Kirsten Savage (Harrington Park, N.J./Old Tappan) beat O'Neill only to have Eastern defenders keep the ball out of the cage. But the senior All-American finally finished off the Eagles in the 80th minute with her program-record 15th career game-winning goal.
 
Hilton made five saves on 16 Eastern shots to earn the win, while Manhattanville took 21 shots at O'Neill.
 
Manhattanville will play next against Delaware Valley, who is currently at the top of the Freedom Conference with a record of 4-1 in conference play.  The game starts at 12:00 p.m. and the team will honor seniors DeChent, Hilton, Julia Esposito (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) and Meg Wittner (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) prior to the game with Senior Day festivities. A live stream of the match can be found on GoValiants.TV about 10 minutes before the start of game time.