PURCHASE, N.Y. – Caroline McKenna headed home the only goal of the match in the 83rd minute as Trinity (Conn.) College escaped with a 1-0 victory over the Manhattanville College women's soccer team in non-conference action on Thursday night at GoValiants.com Field.
 
Manhattanville (4-6-0) came into the match with a defensive mindset and played its game nearly perfectly for most of the night, limiting the Bantams to mostly low-percentage shots combined with some timely saves from junior Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge). Trinity (7-2-0) ended the match with a 20-4 edge in shots, but only seven of those attempts were on target.
 
Trinity nearly got on the board in the 13th minute when Alexa Barbaresi fired a long-range attempt off the crossbar. That was easily the best chance for either side in the opening 45 minutes, as the two sides combined for just one shot on goal.
 
The Bantams' leading scorer, Laura Nee, nearly got her team on the board in the 55th minute, but her turnaround shot was turned aside in diving fashion by Diemicke. Barbaresi again found the woodwork in the 80th minute, when a header off a free kick caromed off the crossbar and then a follow-up attempt was stopped by the Valiant keeper.
 
Trinity's relentless pressure finally paid off in the 83rd minute on the team's fourth corner of the night, as McKenna flicked a service from Kendra Lena past a diving Diemicke into the far corner for her second goal of the year.
 
Diemicke finished the night with six saves – including five in the second half – to keep her team in the game. Trinity's Monica DiFiori did not need to make a save to pick up the shutout victory.
 
Manhattanville will get back into MAC Freedom play on Saturday, when the team travels to King's (Pa.) College for a 5 p.m. kickoff.