POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -  For the second time in as many days the Manhattanville College field hockey team dropped a 1-0 game this time at the hands of Smith College on Saturday in the consolation game of the Betty Richey Tournament hosted by Vassar College.

"It was a tough loss," commented Manhattanville head coach Kevin Kelly. "We had two goals called back but we have to play with what the officials give us. This was a game that we really needed to win for our own state of mind. But we didn't"

After holding William Paterson to one goal and stopping 10 of the Pioneers' 11 corners on Friday night, the Valiant defense had another strong showing as they limited Smith College (1-1) to one goal on 13 shots and stopped all nine Pioneer corners.

"Without a doubt our defense has been on," continued Kelly. "They worked hard out there. We just have to go back to the drawing board until we get it right."

Manhattanville (0-3) thought they scored the first goal but the goal was called back and taken off the board. It was a scoreless game until the 46:51 mark in the second half when freshman forward Kathleen Lima scored on a rebound off of a Meghan Hughes (Kintnersville, Pa./Palisades) saves.

The Valiants thought they tied the game but the referees called the goal back yet again and Smith College was able to hold on for a 1-0 win.

"With the two called back goals we didn't have an opportunity to do what we wanted to do out there," added the Valiant's mentor. "The fact that we had the first goal and the tying goal called back really took the wind out of our sails."

Offensively the Valiants were led by junior defender Bregje Smits (Bussum, Netherlands/Willen de Zwigger College) who accounted for four of the six shots taken. Senior Breanna O'Neill (Hazlet, N.J./Mater Dei Prep) and junior Amanda Cirocco (Totowa, N.J./Passaic Valley) accounted for the other two shots. Junior goalie Meghan Hughes (Kintnersville, Pa./Palisades)  had another strong outing. Hughes faced 13 shots and made six saves while giving up just the lone goal.

With the stellar play of the Valiant defense, Hughes and Smits each earned all-tournament honors with their play. In two games, Hughes faced 26 shots and made 11 saves. While Smits was the anchor of a strong defense that gave up just two goals all weekend and stopped 19 of 20 corners.

"Meghan was really strong in goal and Bregje anchored the defense beautifully," stated Kelly. "Bregje was responsible for three saves just by herself and her passes up field that gave the offense the opportunity to try to get a goal were great. Those never show up on the stats but she is one of the reasons the offense gets the opportunities."

The Valiants will be action as they welcome Saint Thomas Aquinas to GoValiants.com Field on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

"We just have to keep working," concluded Kelly. "We know that our corner team and defense is pretty strong and we can build from that. We will capitalize on the things we do well and hopefully we can get the offense going as well."