NORTH ARLINGTON, N.J. – The Manhattanville College women's soccer team opened up Skyline Conference play in dominating fashion on Sunday afternoon, defeating Yeshiva University by a final of 9-0. With the win, the Valiants improve to 1-5-0 on the year with a 1-0-0 start in the Skyline.

After entering the contest having scored just twice in the first five games of the year, the Valiants erupted to their highest offensive output since last year's 12-0 win over the Maccabees. Jennifer Xiong (Connelly Springs, N.C./East Burke), Alessia Cioffi (Pawling, N.Y./Pawling) and Nadia Parisi (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland) all scored a pair of goals in the victory, with the scores by the rookies Cioffi and Parisi being the first tallies of their collegiate careers. Much of the offense stemmed from opportunities generated by Natalie Aracena (Bronx, N.Y./Riverdale Kingsbride Academy), with the senior recording a career-high three assists.

The Valiants flipped a switch offensively, firing 24 shots in the first half alone. The sustained pressure paid off in the 22^nd minute, as Xiong scored her first of the year off an assist by Skyla Marrone (East Northport, N.Y./St. Anthony's) to open up the scoring. Four minutes later, Megan Leser (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining) netted her first tally of 2022 off of Aracena's first assist of the day to double the Manhattanville lead.

Aracena would set up one more score in the half, setting up Xiong's second goal in the 33^rd minute. In all, the Valiants fired 11 shots on target in the opening 45 minutes. Yeshiva goaltender Daniella Bessler did everything she could to keep the Maccabees in the game through the first half with eight saves.

Manhattanville continued on the attack, needing just 16 seconds into the second half to resume the scoring. It was Morgan Passley (Washingtonville, N.Y./Washingtonville) this time scoring her first of the year on Aracena's third assist to put the Valiants up 4-0. Over the following ten minutes, Manhattanville added three more scores as Cioffi's two tallies sandwiched Kaitlyn Dallaris' (Somers, N.Y./Preston) first career goal. Cioffi's first came in the 48^th minute off an assist by Dori Grasso (Shelton, Conn./St. Joseph) before Dallaris scored her tally unassisted three minutes later. In the 54^th minute, Caitlin White (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) sent a feed to Cioffi for the rookie's second goal of the day, extending the lead to 7-0. Parisi then concluded the offensive barrage with a pair of unassisted scored in the 62^nd and 69^th minutes.

Yeshiva was held without a shot in the contest, the fourth game this season the Maccabees could not generate a shot. The Valiants had three corner kicks in the win.

Up Next
With a win under their belts, the Valiants look to keep momentum rolling as conference play trucks on. Manhattanville hosts Skyline foe Old Westbury on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.