Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's soccer team hung with FDU-Florham for almost the entire contest and generated some great scoring opportunities, but some unlucky breaks and a rough seven-minute stretch in the second half proved to be the difference as the Valiants fell by a 5-1 score in Freedom Conference action on Wednesday afternoon at GoValiants.com Field.
 
Manhattanville (3-11-2, 0-3-2 Freedom) is still not eliminated from postseason contention despite the loss, but the Valiants will need a lot of results to go their way while also winning their final two Freedom Conference matches of the regular season to have a chance. FDU-Florham (9-8-0, 3-2-0 Freedom) takes over third place in the conference standings with the win.
 
The first half epitomized the team's recent frustrations, as the home team had arguably more good scoring chances than FDU-Florham and yet it was the Devils that took a 1-0 lead into the intermission. Sophomore Nicolette Diodati (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) nearly put the Valiants ahead in the 33rd minute when she got a through ball from classmate Christie DeMarco (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream South) and got it over Devils' goalkeeper Annie George, but the ball didn't dip in time and it skimmed off the crossbar. Manhattanville received another unlucky bounce in the 39th minute when DeMarco's attempt from the penalty spot cleanly beat George but caromed off the right post and out.
 
Meanwhile, the Devils scored on their only great offensive chance of the frame, when Kelly Roche received a corner kick from Colleen Furbeck and found the left netting from the top of the 18-yard box in the 35th minute.
 
Despite all the bad luck, Manhattanville still got back to even just 3:28 into the second half, when sophomore Rebecca Breve (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/American School of Tegucigalpa) netted her second goal of the season. Junior Erika Deetjen (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro South) started the play with a long ball forward to sophomore Dani Sullivan (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac), who touched it to Breve and she ripped a shot over the head of George from the top of the box to even things at one apiece.
 
The Valiants kept the momentum going after the score, but that progress was halted at the 58:21 mark when two players got tangled up on the outskirts of the box and the referee awarded a penalty kick to the visitors, which Samantha Messina converted to put her team back on top.
 
Behind for the second time on the day, FDU-Florham got two goals from Michelle Hickey 43 seconds apart a few minutes later to take a three-goal lead and give the visitors all the breathing room they needed.
 
For the match, FDU-Florham ended the day with a slight 15-13 edge in shots. Freshman Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) and sophomore Grace Kraemer (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) both made two saves in goal for the Valiants, while George turned aside three shots and also had a ball cleared off the line by her defender.
 
Manhattanville will host a breast cancer awareness game at GoValiants.com Field on Saturday afternoon, when the squad hosts Wilkes at 2:30 p.m. The team will be selling pink t-shirts and also soliciting donations for breast cancer research, with the proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society.