Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's lacrosse team continued to show early-season improvement on Thursday afternoon, but an efficient Kean attack and a huge dose of weather combined to put the Valiants on the wrong end of a 15-6 score in a non-conference matchup at a cold and snowy GoValiants.com Field.
 
Thursday's game was played with the snow falling throughout, but both goaltenders played well despite the inclement weather. Sophomore Kirsten Shaughnessy (Le Center, Minn./LeSueur-Henderson St. Peter) looked good in her Valiant debut between the pipes, turning aside 11 shots, while Kean's Jules Keeley earned the win by making seven saves in 60 minutes.
 
Offensively, Samantha Gnapp led all players with four goals for the Cougars, followed by three tallies each from Lyndsey Cannon and Maggie Brocklebank. Junior Casandra Honovich (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) paced the home team with three goals, followed by senior Melissa Goncalves (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) with two and classmate Maggie Howley (Philadelphia, Pa./Cardinal Dougherty) with one.
 
Perhaps due to the snowy conditions, the game did not feature a lot of offense in the early going. Kean scored twice in 40 seconds to open up a two-goal lead 4:42 into the game, followed by single tallies from Goncalves and Gnapp to make it 3-1 Cougars at the 9:20 mark.
 
The teams then went nearly nine minutes without a goal, with Julie Knodt snapping the scoreless stretch with her second of the half with 9:38 left. The visitors went on to score four more times over the next eight minutes, giving the team an 8-1 lead before Honovich closed the half with a score from the eight-meter arc in the final minute.
 
Howley started the second half with a score off a pass from sophomore Mallory Bakst (Morganville, N.J./Marlboro), but Kean countered with three goals in 3:16, including back-to-back tallies by Ciara Mastrodomenico and Brocklebank 40 seconds apart, to re-take an 11-3 lead.
 
Manhattanville did not go quietly, however, getting back within six at 12-6 after a pair of Honovich tallies and Goncalves' second of the game. But the Cougars scored the final three goals of the contest over the final four minutes to keep the Valiants at a safe distance.
 
Kean ended the afternoon with a 34-20 shot advantage, while also picking up 22 ground balls to Manhattanville's 13. The Valiants did show marked improvement on the defensive end, forcing 12 of the Cougars' 22 turnovers, led by Howley with four caused turnovers (all charges) and both Honovich and Goncalves with three each.
 
Manhattanville (0-3) will play its next two games on Long Island, beginning on Saturday with a 1 p.m. matchup against Farmingdale State.