Box Score MADISON, N.J. – The Manhattanville women's lacrosse team dropped an 18-11 decision to conference frontrunner FDU-Florham in a Freedom Conference matchup on Tuesday night at Shields Field.
 
Despite the loss, Manhattanville (4-11, 3-2 Freedom) received some good news earlier in the day, as Wilkes' 19-13 victory over King's (Pa.) assured the Valiants a spot in the Freedom Conference Tournament for the second straight season. The Valiants and Colonels will meet in the regular-season finale on Saturday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., with the winner earning the third seed and the loser settling for the fourth seed in next week's postseason.
 
Senior Melissa Goncalves (Holtsville, N.Y./Sachem East) posted a team-high seven points for the Valiants, scoring four times and adding three assists. In the process, she moved into second place on the school's career assists list (68) and also jumped into fourth place in career points (231) at Manhattanville. Junior Casandra Honovich (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas) added four goals and an assist as well for the visitors, and now sits just three goals away from breaking the school's single-season goals mark that she missed by a single goal last year.
 
FDU-Florham (9-7, 5-0 Freedom) was led by the only player in the Freedom Conference with more points than either Honovich or Goncalves this year, Katie Rolwood, who scored five times and added three assists for a game-high eight points. Courtney Rendinaro added four goals and two assists for the Devils as well.
 
FDU-Florham started the game hot on a cool Tuesday night, as four different players scored in the first 2:28 of the game to take an early 4-0 lead. The Devils still held a 7-2 lead before Manhattanville made its biggest push of the half, as Honovich scored twice and sophomore Kirsten Shaughnessy (Le Center, Minn./LeSueur-Henderson St. Peter) also found the net to make it a 7-5 score with 5:33 to go in the half. Senior Maggie Howley (Philadelphia, Pa./Cardinal Dougherty) countered an Ally Lerner score to keep the margin at two with 4:42 remaining, but the Devils scored the final three goals of the half to take an 11-6 lead into the break.
 
Unfortunately for the Valiants, the Devils started the second half much like they did the first, scoring seven of the frame's first eight goals to take a commanding 18-7 lead with 20:05 left in the contest.
 
Manhattanville closed the game with the final four goals, getting two from Goncalves, one from Honovich and one from sophomore Meghann Haggerty (Centerport, N.Y./Harborfields), but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback.
 
The shots were even in the second half at 12 apiece, with FDU holding a 32-23 edge in shots for the game. Freshman Caitlin Sosa (New York, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) made eight saves for the Valiants in a losing effort, while FDU's Grace Warburton turned aside seven shots.
 
Manhattanville will close out the regular season on Saturday, when the Valiants travel to Wilkes for a 1 p.m. start.