PURCHASE, N.Y. — The Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team dropped their first Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom matchup of the season, falling 18-11 to Eastern University Wednesday, April 3 at GoValiants.com Field.

The Valiants jumped out to a 2-1 lead following early goals by freshmen midfielders Ally Petricca (New Hyde Park, N.Y./New Hyde Park Memorial) and Lara Keenan (Montgomery, N.Y./Valley Central). But the Eagles responded with five unanswered goals, with Sabrina Campbell scoring three straight to give the visitors a 6-2 lead.

Keenan answered with her second of the game to get Manhattanville within three, but Eastern would go on another run, scoring six of the next seven goals to push the lead to 12-4 at the half, with sophomore midfielder Hailey DeStasio (West Hempstead, N.Y./West Hempstead) getting on the board for the Valiants late in the first half.

Manhattanville got off to a strong start in the second half, scoring four of the first five goals. Keenan picked up three more, and sophomore attack Kayla Telesky (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) added a goal to get the home team to within 13-8. But that was as the Valiants would get, as Campbell added two more to push the lead to seven goals. The Valiants added three more goals the rest of the way, with sophomore midfielder Diana Piacquadio (Port Washington, N.Y./Gilmour Academy), DeStasio, and sophomore attack Bella Cosentino (Washingtonville, N.Y./Washingtonville) scoring one apiece, but it would not be enough for Manhattanville, falling 18-11 in their opening MAC Freedom contest of the 2019 season.

The Valiants return to the field Saturday, April 6, when they travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. to take on Wilkes University at 1:00 p.m.