MAHWAH, N.J. – The Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team fell behind by six goals early and could not fully complete the comeback, getting within a goal before Ramapo College pulled away late for an 18-11 victory over the Valiants in non-conference action on Friday afternoon.
 
Sophomore Sarah Dalsey (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) had a big game for Manhattanville (3-3), tying her season and career high with five goals to lead the squad. Freshman AnnaMarie Nardone (Thornwood, N.Y./Westlake) also chipped in four goals as well to pace the Valiant attack.
 
Ramapo (2-2) was led by Lindsay Hughes, who came up huge for the Roadrunners with eight goals. She was the only Ramapo player with more than two tallies on the afternoon, as Beth McGraw and Alexandra Tray followed up with three points apiece for the home team as well.
 
The Valiants got off to a bad start in the contest, as Tray scored the first goal of the game 15 seconds in and the Roadrunners added five more to quickly take a 6-0 lead just 5:48 into the contest. But Manhattanville settled down thanks almost single-handedly to Dalsey, who twice scored two goals less than a minute apart. Her run of four straight goals got the visitors back into the game at 6-4 with 13:22 to go in the first half.
 
The teams traded goals for the next few minutes, with Dalsey potting her fifth of the game and sophomore Olivia Drew (York, Maine/York) adding her first of the year to almost bring the Valiants all the way back, making the score 8-7 with 45 seconds left. However the team could not get the tying goal, as Hughes scored her fifth of the half eight seconds later to make it a 9-7 score at the break.
 
Nardone quickly got Manhattanville back within a goal again by corralling the opening draw and racing all the way down the field for an unassisted score just 11 seconds into the half. However, Ramapo responded with two goals in 23 seconds soon after to regain a three-goal edge and take away the Valiant momentum.
 
The visitors got back within three goals twice more following a pair of Nardone tallies, but Ramapo closed the game on a 5-1 run to secure the win. The lone Valiant goal came off the stick of freshman Mary Lynch (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains), who found the net for the first time in her collegiate debut.
 
Ramapo finished the game with a 35-28 edge in shots. Sophomore Lauren Cassidy (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) made eight saves on 26 shots to suffer the loss, while Jessica Meyers came on in relief of an ineffective Tara Ward and make seven saves over the final 37:47 to earn the win.
 
Manhattanville will be back in action on Tuesday, as the Valiants move up the NJAC ranks to take on nationally ranked College of New Jersey on the road beginning at 7 p.m.