HILTON HEAD, S.C. – Senior Meghann Haggerty (Centerport, N.Y./Harborfields) scored four of her team-high six goals in the second half, including the eventual game-winner with less than a minute left in regulation as the Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team picked up a wild 18-17 victory over New England College on a rainy Friday afternoon.
 
Haggerty came up big again for Manhattanville (2-1), setting a new career high with her six goals and adding an assist for seven points. Sophomore Sarah Dalsey (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) also registered seven points on five goals and two assists to go with a team-high seven draw controls and five ground balls. Freshman AnnaMarie Nardone (Thornwood, N.Y./Westlake) continued her excellent start to the year as well with five goals, an assist and six draw controls for the Valiants.
 
Gabriella Bigos led New England (1-3) with six goals and seven points of her own, followed by Allison Granata with four goals and two assists.
 
Friday's game featured plenty of back-and-forth action, as both squads went on extended scoring runs in order to counter each other.
 
Manhattanville started the game by scoring five of the first six goals, with Dalsey opening the scoring 1:27 into the contest and adding two more during the run to put the Valiants up 5-1 10:09 into the game. After NEC scored four in a row to tie the game, freshman Christina Leva (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) scored her first collegiate goal and Haggerty added her second of the day to put the Valiants back ahead.
 
Two Pilgrim goals in 15 seconds knotted the score again before each team went on a four-goal streak. Nardone bookended tallies by Dalsey and sophomore Arianna Kreush (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) with ones of her own to make it an 11-7 game before Granata scored three times as part of a 4-0 run to again even the score at 11 headed into halftime.
 
The Valiants again came out strong to begin the second half, scoring four straight goals to build up a 15-11 lead with 18:21 remaining. NEC got back within a goal thanks to three straight tallies, but big goals by Haggerty and Nardone just over a minute apart put the Valiants ahead by a 17-14 score with under 10 minutes to go.
 
It was a 17-15 game entering the final minute of regulation but the drama was just starting, despite Haggerty putting Manhattanville up 18-15 with 58 ticks left. Kasondra Moniz scored 14 seconds later to make it a two-score game and Bigos found the net with two seconds left, but it was too late for the Pilgrims as Manhattanville picked up its second win of the year.
 
Sophomore Lauren Cassidy (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) had another good game between the pipes for Manhattanville, turning aside 13 shots to earn her second win of 2015.
 
Manhattanville will return home for the team's long-awaited home opener on Wednesday, as the Valiants welcome Saint Joseph's (L.I.) to GoValiants.com Field for a 5 p.m. matchup.