DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — The Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team dropped a close matchup with Delaware Valley University, falling by a 9-7 score Wednesday, April 17 at Lipinski Field in Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom play.

The Valiants (5-8, 1-4 MACF) fell behind early, giving up two goals in the first minute to the Aggies' (5-6, 2-3 MACF) Gabby Borst and Samantha Collyer to quickly fall in a 2-0 hole. Freshman midfielder Lara Keenan (Montgomery, N.Y./Valley Central) continued her impressive rookie season, scoring just shy of the five-minute mark to cut the lead to 2-1. The teams would then trade goals, as sophomore midfielder Hailey DeStasio (West Hempstead, N.Y./West Hempstead) and junior defender Lexy DeLeo (Meriden, Conn./Orville H. Platt) both scored to keep Manhattanville within a goal. Delaware Valley's Claire Gamache gave the home team a 6-3 lead with two consecutive goals, but the Valiants would respond with two late goals by freshman attack Brialee Logue (Hampton, N.H./Winnacunnet) as well as Keenan, who picked up her second goal of the day with just over a minute remaining to get the visitors within one goal at the half.

Following an early second half goal by the Aggies' Sabrina Butler, the teams went scoreless for over 20 minutes. Neither team was able to find the back of the net until Gamache was able to pick up two goals in a three-minute span to give Delaware Valley a 9-5 lead with just over three minutes remaining. Manhattanville started to mount a comeback on two late goals by defender Nicole DeMealo (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and DeStatio, but ran out of time at the end, falling 9-7 in conference play.

On the day, Keenan and DeStasio each had two goals, sophomore defender Kaitlyn D'Amico (East Islip, N.Y./East Islip) picked up five ground balls, Logue had one goal and three ground balls, and junior goalkeeper Bella Marchiselli (Williston Park, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy Academy) made 13 saves on 22 shots for Manhattanville.

The Valiants return to action Wednesday, April 24, when they are back on the road to take on Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham in Madison, N.J., with game time scheduled for 4:00 p.m.