PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's soccer team outplayed its counterpart from SUNY Old Westbury over the final 45 minutes of the contest, but the Valiants could not fully overcome an early two-goal deficit in suffering a difficult 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Panthers in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon at GoValiants.com Field.
 
Stephanie Maybie had both goals on the afternoon for Old Westbury (4-3-1), which jumped out to a 2-0 lead 19 minutes into the contest and then managed to hold off a hard-charging Manhattanville (1-7-0) squad down the stretch. Junior Christie DeMarco (Valley Stream, N.Y./Valley Stream South) netted her third goal of the season for the Valiants in the hard-luck loss.
 
The shots were even at eight apiece during the second half, but it didn't feel that way as the Valiants had great chance after great chance. After threatening to break the Panthers' aggressive offside trap for much of the stanza, DeMarco got behind the line for the first time in the 72nd minute, but keeper Melissa Muller made a great diving save to keep it a two-goal game. The pressure continued for Manhattanville and eventually paid off in the 76th minute thanks to an impressive individual effort by DeMarco, who dribbled through at least three Old Westbury defenders before going in alone on Muller and finding the net for her third goal of the season.
 
The junior then nearly knotted the score less than 30 seconds later, when her shot from distance caromed off the bottom of the crossbar and came back out. Freshman Julianna Browne (Dover Plains, N.Y./Dover) was in great position to pick up the rebound, but her shot from close range went wide and the deficit remained one.
 
The Valiants continued to attack in pursuit of the game-tying goal, and nearly found it with 80 seconds left after senior Erika Deetjen (West Windsor, N.J./West Windsor-Plainsboro South) got by a pair of Panthers on the wing and went in on Muller's net. But the angle was too tough for the senior and Muller was able to make the stop and keep her team ahead for good.
 
The difference in the match ended up being Old Westbury's dominant first half, in which the visitors outshot the Valiants by a 12-3 margin and got a pair of goals from Maybie, who took a pair of well-placed through balls and found the net in one-on-one situations with Valiant sophomore keeper Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge).
 
Diemicke kept her team in the game after the two early strikes, finishing the match with 10 saves. After looking shaky early on, Muller earned her first collegiate win by making four big saves for Old Westbury.
 
Manhattanville will look to snap its five-game losing streak on Saturday, when the Valiants host John Jay for a non-conference matchup at GoValiants.com Field beginning at 3 p.m.