PURCHASE, N.Y. – The 2023 Manhattanville College women's lacrosse season concluded on Tuesday night following a 17-12 loss to the fifth-seeded Saint Joseph's University Long Island in the opening round of the Skyline Conference Championship. The loss brings the fourth-seeded Valiants' final record to 12-5, the most wins in program history.

It would be a late scoring barrage that was the difference maker on the night for the Golden Eagles as Saint Joseph's closed out the night on an 8-1 scoring run across the final 18:10 of regulation to blow open what was previously a tightly-fought contest.
The Golden Eagles opened the night with goals by Melissa Newman and Brooke Zecchini before Kerry Carr (New Hartford, N.Y./Millbrook School) struck with 5:19 left in the opening quarter. Megan Spina fired a response tally for Saint Josepj's a minute later to make it a 3-1 contest entering the second.

Both teams found more success on the attack in the second quarter, combining for nine total goals. Amanda Gennardo began the period with a goal just 11 seconds following the initial draw to put the Golden Eagles ahead by three. The Valiants netted back-to-back tallies, starting with Ally Petricca (New Hyde Park, N.Y./New Hyde Park Memorial) being assisted by Marisa D'Angelo (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) before Maura Kelly (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) struck from Carr to make it a one goal game at 4-3 with 8:43 left in the half. Emily O'Mara and Kelly traded tallies, with Kelly's goal assisted by Pietra Cabral (Mineola, N.Y./Mineola). Saint Joseph's got two more goals from Emma Lange to reestablish their three goal lead. In the closing minute of the half, Kelly and D'Angelo each scored in the closing minute to make it a 7-6 game in favor of the Golden Eagles through 30 minutes.

The late scoring for the Valiants swung momentum in the favor of the home team to begin the third quarter as Manhattanville made it six unanswered goals with four tallies across the opening 6:12 of the half. Kelly scored the equalizer from Carr 55 seconds into the quarter before D'Angelo put the Vals in front just ten seconds later by way of Kelly. Manhattanville then got a pair of goals from Carr to take a 10-7 lead, their largest of the night.

With still half of the quarter to play, the Golden Eagles went back on the offensive with goals from Spina and Jamie Trowbridge. Kaci Pierce (East Lyme, Conn./East Lyme) scored the Valiants' fifth goal of the quarter, but goals from Newman, Spina and Zecchini for the visitors put Saint Joseph's back in front 12-11 to enter the final period of regulation.

Carr wasted little time to tie the game up with her fourth of the night 45 seconds into the quarter. The game held at a 12-12 scored until 10:12 remained in regulation as Gianna D'Arienzo scored from Trowbridge. From there, it was all Saint Joseph's the rest of the night as the Golden Eagles scored four more times to go ahead 17-12 with 3:48 to play. The Valiants outshot Saint Joseph's 11-8 over the final 15 minutes, but the Golden Eagles were able to put their shots on net to pull away and advance to the semifinal round on Thursday against top-seeded Maritime.

Britney Sirota (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) concluded her Manhattanville career with a nine save performance to bring her season total up to 151. She will leave the program with 343 career saves, the fifth-most in a Valiant career. Additionally, her 8.76 goals-against average for the season finishes as the second lowest in program history. The senior keeper would also surpass 100 ground balls for her career in the contest.

Abbey Playle (Reading, England/Leigh High School) collected six draw controls to go past the century mark in just her two seasons playing collegiate lacrosse. She finished the year with 94 draw controls, the second-highest single-season total in the history of the program. Carr would be the only Valiant better on the draw on the night with nine controls, finishing her Valiant career third in the record book with 166.

Carr, Playle and Cabral each finished with three ground balls to lead the team. Kelly alongside Catrina Chinetti (Hyde Park, Mass./Boston Latin Academy) caused a team-high three turnovers.

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