Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville field hockey team put together a great second half against Delaware Valley, but failed to complete the improbable comeback on Senior Day at GoValiants.com Field, as the Valiants fell short in overtime on Saturday afternoon, 5-4 to Delaware Valley.

Seniors Amanda DeChent (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley), Julia Esposito (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich), Amy Hilton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Kents Hill (Maine)), and Meg Wittner (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) were honored before the game for their contributions over the past four seasons. All of these seniors gave solid effort in today's game, but the Freedom Conference's top team Delaware Valley shook off a second-half collapse to pull through.

Aggies midfielder Kelsey Zook was the difference in the game by tallying three goals in the match, including the game-winner in overtime that not only spoiled Senior Day for the Valiants, but also slimmed down Manhattanville's chances of making the Freedom Conference playoffs. Manhattanville is now 10-8 overall (3-3 Freedom) and sits in a tie for fourth place in the conference with Wilkes, but can still clinch a postseason berth with a win over FDU-Florham on Tuesday.

One of the seniors being honored on Saturday, DeChent, had another milestone day for Manhattanville by scoring two second-half goals and contributing an assist on a tally by sophomore Breanna O'Neill (Hazlet, N.J./Mater Dei Prep) in the 57th minute. The assist by DeChent was the 35th of her career, which tied her with Danelle Lacroix '06 for the all-time assist record at Manhattanville.

The Aggies owned the first half and headed into halftime with a 4-1 cushion. The only goal scored by Manhattanville in the first half came from sophomore Sharon Konfederak (Buenos Aires, Argentina/The Washington School) off a penalty stroke in the 19th minute. Zook scored twice for Delaware Valley in the first half, both off penalty strokes in the 12th and 25th minute. The other two goals from Delaware Valley came from Jessica Summers in the 28th minute and Stefania Swider in the 30th minute.

But a 4-1 deficit at halftime did not appear to frighten the Valiants, who put together a tremendous second half to even the score. DeChent started the scoring in the 42nd minute by floating a reverse sweep over Aggies goalkeeper Sandra Edwards for the goal. Only five minutes later, DeChent found the net again by connecting off a rebound on an Edwards kick save, helping the Valiants come within one goal of the Aggies.

The Valiants continued to apply pressure in the second half, thanks to the most decorated player in Manhattanville field hockey history, DeChent. It was in the 56th minute when O'Neill took a pass from DeChent to tie the game up at four goals apiece, also tying DeChent for the assist record at Manhattanville.

The end of regulation finished with both teams tied up at four. It felt as if this improbable comeback was going to be pulled off by the Valiants, until Zook capitalized for the Aggies in overtime. Zook took the only shot in overtime and scored the game-winner for Delaware Valley, beating Hilton from the top of the arc in the 75th minute. The goal by Zook helped the Aggies clinch a spot in the playoffs, as they improve to 12-5 overall (5-1 Freedom).

Hilton made nine saves on 17 Delaware Valley shots, but gave up all five goals. Both teams each tallied 17 shots in the game.

Manhattanville will host FDU-Florham in the final game of the regular season on Tuesday night in a must-win Freedom Conference matchup starting at 7:00 p.m. Live video and stats can be accessed through GoValiants.com.