ST. DAVIDS, PA – The Manhattanville College lacrosse team led by as many as four goals as late as the third quarter, but conceded a late run to the Eastern University Eagles Wednesday April 3, with the Eagles winning the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom opener 11-9.

Junior Nick Delia (New City, N.Y./Clarkstown South) finished with three goals and a game-high three assists, classmate Gianni Ciffone (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) had a team-high four goals and fellow junior Will Duval (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay) finished with a goal and an assist. Freshman Harrison Yoguez (Trumbull, Conn./St. Joseph (H.S.)) added a goal and senior Soya Goto (Rye, N.Y./Rye) added an assist for Manhattanville (5-4, 0-1 MACF).Junior goalkeeper Jason Frezza (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Portledge) added 17 saves for the Valiants.

For Eastern (5-6, 1-0 MACF), Trent Ashton finished with four goals and Zach Bauer won 21-of-22 faceoffs and finished with a game-high 12 ground balls.

Delia assisted on Ciffone's goal to open the scoring, then added one of his own just past the midway point of the opening quarter. After Eastern got a goal back, Ciffone and Yoguez both scored in the final 40 seconds of the quarter, giving Manhattanville a 4-1 lead after 15 minutes.

Delia put the Valiants up 5-1 just shy of three minutes gone in the second quarter, a margin they held more than six minutes, before Eastern closed the half with two unanswered goals.

Duval and Delia put the visitors up 7-3 at the 11:21 mark of the third quarter, but Eastern countered with a run of their own, scoring three straight to close the quarter just down 7-6.

Ciffone gave the Valiants an 8-6 cushion to open the final quarter, but Eastern closed with five of the game's final six goals, including Ashton's fourth with less than a minute to play that iced the game.

The Valiants return to GoValiants.com Field this Saturday for their final weekend home game of the season. Before the game, the team will host Senior Day ceremonies to celebrate the program's Class of 2019.