PURCHASE, N.Y. – Western Connecticut State University scored 14 of the game's final 16 goals to turn a 10-10 tie into a 24-12 victory over Manhattanville College in non-conference women's lacrosse action on a rainy Tuesday night at GoValiants.com Field.
 
Attackers Destinee Carey and Kelsey Heaton provided much of the offense for Western Connecticut (6-4) on the night, with Carey leading all scorers with eight goals and Heaton adding a game-high 12 points on seven goals and five assists in addition to a game-high 10 draw controls and seven ground balls. Olivia Kosilla also added a goal and five helpers for the Colonials as well.
 
Senior Meghann Haggerty (Centerport, N.Y./Harborfields) led Manhattanville (4-5) with five goals on seven shots, in addition to three caused turnovers and three ground balls. Sophomore Sarah Dalsey (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) chipped in two goals, an assist and four draw controls, while junior Grace Kraemer (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) had a good game defensively with a team-high five ground balls.
 
The Colonials took early control of the contest after Haggerty opened the scoring 2:06 into the game, rattling off six of the next seven goals – including four from Heaton – to take a 6-2 lead with 18:48 left in the first half. After WCSU's Ellie Calcavecchio and Valiant freshman AnnaMarie Nardone (Thornwood, N.Y./Westlake) traded tallies, Manhattanville scored three in a row to get back in the game, as Nardone and Haggerty followed the fourth of the year from freshman Christina Leva (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) to make it a 7-6 game with 11:36 on the clock.
 
The two teams spent the next eight minutes trading tallies, with Dalsey, Haggerty and freshman Jennifer Machin (Brunswick, Maine/North Yarmouth Academy) finding the net for the home team to keep it a one-goal deficit after 30 minutes of play.
 
Haggerty started the second half just as she did the first, scoring 2:04 into the frame to get Manhattanville back to even at 10-all. But it was all Western Connecticut from there, as Carey scored twice in 33 seconds to start a string of nine straight Colonial scores that gave the visitors a 19-10 lead with 11:47 left.
 
Scores by Haggerty and Dalsey got the Valiants back within eight with 5:57 remaining, but the Colonials continued to press down the field and scored three times in the final 72 seconds to account for the final score.
 
Western Connecticut out-shot Manhattanville 33-9 in the second half to finish the game with a 52-26 edge in shots. Sophomore Lauren Cassidy (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) made 10 of her 15 saves in the second half, while Nicole Petruzzi turned aside nine shots for the visitors.
 
Manhattanville will continue its busy week at home on Thursday, when the Valiants continue non-conference play with a 4 p.m. matchup against Kean.