PURCHASE, N.Y. – Senior Sarah Dalsey (Ocean City, N.J./Ocean City) scored the Valiants' final three goals of the game as part of a team-high five-goal effort in leading the Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team to a crucial 15-14 victory over Eastern University on a cold and rainy Wednesday night at GoValiants.com Field.
 
The win was huge for Manhattanville (9-4, 3-1 MAC Freedom) in the race for the postseason, as the Valiants moved into sole possession of third place in the MAC Freedom standings with three games to go. The team's nine wins so far this year are also tied for the second-most in a season in program history and are the most since a program-record 11 victories in 2009.
 
Dalsey led the way with her season-high five goals, which came on only seven shots, and she added two ground balls, two draw controls and two caused turnovers. Sophomore Kat Reilly (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem North) had five points on four goals and an assist, while senior Jenna Nance (Glendale, Calif./Glendale) chipped in two goals and an assist as well. Junior Carly Weiss (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) had a big game despite scoring only twice, as she led all players with seven draw controls and six ground balls.
 
Liz Brennan led all players with six goals and eight points for Eastern (3-10, 1-3 MAC Freedom), while Julie Haggan had four goals as well for the visitors.
 
Dalsey did all she could to carry Manhattanville to a win, as her final three goals helped secure the victory. Eastern went on a 4-1 run to take a 12-11 lead with 13:05 to go in the game before Manhattanville scored three in a row to take back control, beginning with a Weiss tally followed by back-to-back Dalsey scores to put the home team up 14-12. Dalsey answered a Nicole Hege score with her fifth of the night, again giving the Valiants a two-goal lead at 15-13 with 6:40 left on the clock.
 
That goal came in handy after Brennan scored again to get the Eagles back within one with 3:44 to go. But the home team came up with a pair of big defensive stands in the final minutes, including a huge caused turnover by Weiss with under a minute remaining that helped seal the victory.
 
The first half was a back-and-forth 30 minutes, featuring four ties and eight goals for each side. Reilly and junior Christina Leva (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) scored 26 seconds apart to start the scoring for Manhattanville, but Eastern came back with four of the next five goals to take a 4-3 lead. The teams alternated goals for the next five scores before two in 20 seconds from Haggan put the Eagles up 8-6 with 4:02 remaining, but the Valiants came back with the final two goals of the period, coming from Nance and then Reilly while man-down to tie the game at the half.
 
Manhattanville finished the night with a 36-26 edge in shots, as well as a slight 24-21 advantage in ground balls and a 17-13 edge in draw controls. Senior Lauren Cassidy (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) picked up the win for Manhattanville, making eight saves, while Eastern's Alina Odjemski made 12 saves in a losing effort.
 
The Valiants will look to move closer to clinching a MAC Freedom Tournament berth on Saturday when the team travels to Wilkes University for a 1 p.m. matchup.