ALBANY, N.Y. – Stringing together nine consecutive goals and holding their opponents to a season-low five goals, the Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team earned its first win of the season, defeating Russell Sage 17-5 on Wednesday afternoon. The Valiants improve to 1-3 on the year as head coach Arianna Kreush earns her first victory at the helm of the program.

Making her season debut after being sidelined for the first three games due to injury, Lara Keenan (Montgomery, N.Y./Valley Central) wasted no time making an impact. The senior was one of three Valiants to record five points on the day, scoring four times and dishing out an assist. Keenan is now three goals shy of 100 for her career. Kerry Carr (New Hartford, N.Y./Millbrook School) matched Keenan's stat line with four goals and an assist of her own. It was the first hat trick of the season for the Valiants' leading scorer, who now has eight goals and 11 points on the season.

Brialee Logue (Hampton, N.H./Winnacunnet) scored three times, while the trio of Marisa D'Angelo (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur), Caity Bianchi (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City), and Ally Petricca (New Hyde Park, N.Y./New Hyde Park Memorial) each netted a pair of goals. D'Angelo also added a team-high three assists in the win.

Defensively, Britney Sirota (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) picked up her first win of the year, making 11 saves in net. The five goals allowed is a new career-low for the junior in a start. In addition to being the team's leading assister, D'Angelo also led the ground ball effort with eight, setting a new career high. Kasey Molito (Whitman, MA/Whitman-Hanson Regional) also set a career-best with six ground balls to go along with three caused turnovers, second only to Keenan's four in the game.

Manhattanville opened up the game with two straight goals as Carr scored on the second of her 14 shots at 10:44. At 6:07, Bianchi netted her first of the afternoon. After Sage cut the deficit down to one, Petricca and the Gators' Kyla Kruger traded goals to end the first quarter, with the Valiants ahead 3-2.

Sirota pitched a shutout in the second quarter, stopping all four shots she faced. With the Gator attack silenced, the Valiants were able to run out to an 8-2 lead at the half, scoring five times in the frame. Carr struck again with 8:45 to go in the half, the first of three goals in a span of 1:24. D'Angelo would be assisted by Bianchi 46 seconds after Carr's tally before Bianchi netted her second unassisted tally of the day. Petricca added her second goal before Carr closed out the half with her hat trick, earning Bianchi her second assist of the night.

The Valiant attack kept rolling after the halftime intermission, with Manhattanville netting the first four goals of the third quarter. Keenan finished off a pass from D'Angelo 50 seconds after the opening draw control before Logue, Carr and D'Angelo each scored, putting the Valiants ahead 12-2. The Gators finally stopped the Manhattanville run with Samantha Shafer's scored with 7:44 remaining in the quarter, but Logue would respond with her second scored with 3:16 left on the clock. Sage's Alexandra Queeney scored with 18 seconds remaining on a man advantage as the Valiants carried the 13-4 lead into the final quarter.

Manhattanville outscored the Gators 4-1 over the final 15 minutes to secure the win. Keenan completed her hat trick with the first two scores of the period before Logue joined with her third with 8:02 remaining. Keenan then put the finishing touches on the game with her fourth goal with 4:38 left in regulation.

The 40 ground balls by the Valiants was the team's most since 2019 when Manhattanville collected 43 against King's College. Manhattanville was 19-7 on draw controls, with Carr earning a game-high eight.

Up Next
The Valiants are back home on Friday evening to host Lycoming College at 5 p.m.

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