Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's lacrosse team was outscored by a 10-3 margin after intermission to turn a close game into a 22-10 defeat at the hands of Wilkes in both teams' 2014 Freedom Conference opener on Wednesday afternoon at GoValiants.com Field.
 
Wilkes (8-0, 1-0 Freedom) was led by Carley Smith, who netted a game-high 11 points on four goals and seven assists, followed by Gabby Ford with six goals and two assists for eight points. Madeleine Brownsey and Tori Kerr both had five goals for the Lady Colonels as well.
 
Junior Meghann Haggerty (Centerport, N.Y./Harborfields) registered a career-high five points to lead Manhattanville (1-9, 0-1 Freedom), scoring three times and adding two assists. Freshman Lauren Cassidy (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) also scored a season-best twice for the Valiants on the day.
 
The Valiants were done in largely by the Lady Colonels' proficiency on draws, as the visitors controlled 25 of 34 draws over the course of the afternoon that helped to result in a 42-22 edge in shots. Ford and Smith both had six draw controls each, while Kerr added five for Wilkes.
 
Wilkes scored four of the game's first five goals to take an early lead, but the Valiants got back within one after sophomore Grace Kraemer (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) and freshman Olivia Drew (York, Maine/York) both netted their first collegiate tallies less than two minutes apart to make it a 4-3 lead with 16:00 left in the first half. But the visitors ran off a string of eight straight goals, including four from Ford, to open up a 12-3 lead with 6:47 remaining.
 
Manhattanville showed some fight as the minutes dwindled, however, scoring the final four goals of the half to make for a manageable 12-7 deficit at the half. The shots at the half were only 23-15 in favor in Wilkes, with junior Kirsten Shaughnessy (Le Center, Minn./LeSueur-Henderson St. Peter) turning aside 10 shots to keep her team in the game.
 
The second half was all Wilkes, however, as the Lady Colonels scored 10 goals to the Valiants' three. Seven straight tallies to start the frame were enough to put the game back out of reach at 19-7 with 16:17 remaining in the contest, and the two teams scored three times each the rest of the way.
 
Shaughnessy finished the game with a career-high 15 saves for Manhattanville, while Morgan Galluzzo turned aside six shots for Wilkes.
 
Manhattanville will be back in action on Saturday, when the Valiants host Arcadia in another Freedom Conference matchup at GoValiants.com Field beginning at 1 p.m.