PURCHASE, N.Y. – Winning their home opener for the first time since 2019, the Manhattanville College field hockey team closed out the opening week of the season with a 5-2 victory over Dean. The Valiants improved to 1-1 overall with the win.

Alyssa Monahan (East Fishkill, NY/John Jay High School) led the offensive attack with a pair of goals, her first multiscore game of her collegiate career. She was joined in the scoring column by Keira Guinan (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford), Megan Keaveney (Clarkstown, N.Y./Clarkstown South) and Felicity Williams (Glens Falls, N.Y./Glens Falls).

The home team got off to a hot start, scoring twice across the opening seven and a half minutes. The first strike came off the stick of Monahan. Julia Huertas (Shirley, N.Y./William Floyd) pushed the ball into play off the corner, finding Fiona Doherty's (Clarkstown, N.Y./Clarkstown South) stick at the top of the circle. The rookie swept the ball across the turf to Monahan who rifled in a shot to the lower left corner of the cage to put the Valiants on the board 3:45 into the tilt.

Just under four minutes later, the home squad struck again. A shot by Williams was successfully turned away by Dean's netminder Mackenzie Fillion. The ball remained loose in front of the cage, and while Shannon Keena's (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) follow up attempt was also turned away, Guinan cleaned up in front of the net to record her first collegiate goal.

Manhattanville added another score in the second quarter to extend the lead up to 3-0. With five minutes off the clock in the period, Doherty connected with Keaveney who was positioned in front of the cage. The grad student beat a sprawling Fillion to the right corner of the goal for her team-leading third goal of the season.

The Valiant attack continued in the third as Manhattanville added two more tallies to their lead. With seven minutes gone in the half, the Bulldogs were charged with a foul to award the Valiants a penalty stroke. Monahan capitalized on the opportunity, lifting the ball past the stick of a diving Fillion to further the lead up to 4-0. The scoring was capped off by Williams in the closing seconds of the period, finishing Huertas' feed off a penalty corner.

Not content to head home scoreless, the Bulldogs got on the board twice in the final quarter of action. Shea Cassani broke up the shutout bid with 4:40 left in play off an assist from Keira Houdegbe. A Valiant yellow card soon after allowed Dean to work with an extra player, scoring with the player advantage on a Sydnee Ramos-Emily Kilpatrick connection. Manhattanville was successful in running off the remainder of the card with no further damage, closing the book on a 5-2 win.

All three Valiant goalkeepers saw action in the win. Cat Morgan (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay Senior) got the start and played a scoreless first half, making a pair of saves including one on a penalty stroke. Florence Harrison (Melbourne, Australia/Balwyn High School) saw action in the entire third quarter, making three saves with one penalty stroke stop of her own. Lidia Vasquez-Sinisi (Selden, N.Y./Newfield) was then tabbed to close the door for the fourth quarter.

The Valiants outshot Dean 21-9, putting 14 shots on net. Manhattanville finished with 11 penalty corners compared to five for the Bulldogs.

Up Next
A three-game homestand continues on Tuesday as the Valiants take on Drew under the lights at 7 p.m.

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