PURCHASE, N.Y. – A late three goal rally lifted the visiting Saint Joseph's College of Maine past the Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team on Thursday afternoon by a final of 11-10. The Valiants fall to 1-3 with the loss as the team gets set to embark on a four-game road trip beginning next week.

The Monks scored three times in the final 2:21—getting goals from Mackenzie Siebert, Taylor Dumond, and Carson Battaglia—to erase a two-goal deficit. Battaglia netted the game-winner with 12 seconds remaining in regulation off a pass from Siebert.
In a tight contest throughout, neither team would build up a lead larger than two goals. The ten tallies marked the lowest offensive output by the Valiants in the early going of the 2024 season.

Manhattanville would control a majority of the first quarter as they built out a 3-1 lead. Pietra Cabral (Mineola, N.Y./Mineola) struck first 2:03 into the game with a free position goal, her fifth of the year. Bridget Collins evened things up on a player-up tally with 7:27 left in the quarter, but Cabral struck again a minute later to reestablish the Manhattanville lead. The Valiants added one more in the final second of the quarter as Meghan DeBellis (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) beat the horn off a pass from Colleen MacNeil (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) to put the home team up 3-1.

The Monks continued to capitalize on Manhattanville penalties as the first four Saint Joseph's goals would come following cards issued to the Valiants. Sophia Burton, Dumond and Battaglia each netted a player-up goal over the first 6:39 of the second quarter to go ahead 4-3. Siebert logged assists on the first two tallies to help get the Monk attack rolling. Cabral earned a hat trick while ending the Monk run 17 seconds after Battaglia's goal as MacNeil collected another assists. Saint Joseph's went back up on a Celia Melanson tally before Katherin Stahl brought things even at 5-5 on a free position goal for her first career tally. It would be the Monks working some final seconds magic this time around as Dumond scored from Burton with the team's fifth player-up tally of the half with four ticks left on the clock to put the guests up 6-5.

MacNeil wasted little time as the second half got underway, scoring 17 seconds into the new quarter to tie things up at 6-6. The Valiants would then begin to benefit from penalties as Gianna Mott (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) scored a player-up goal by way of Cabral 2:02 into the third to go back in front. The Monks pulled even a touch over a minute later as Battaglia struck again, but DeBellis would score another free position goal with the Valiants up a player to go ahead 8-7 with 8:21 left in the third. The offenses would stall for the duration of the quarter as the score held steady to enter the fourth.

After Siebert tied things up for the Monks 2:13 into the fourth, goals from Stahl and Mott had the home team up 10-8 with 5:24 left in regulation. Despite the late deficit, Saint Joseph's used the late rally to complete the comeback win and hand the Valiants a heartbreaker of a loss.

Jacee Russello (Hope Valley, R.I./North Kingstown Senior) made eight saves in the loss in net for Manhattanville. The freshman has recorded 42 saves over the first four games of the season and her career, sporting a 13.00 goals-against average.

Despite being limited to a season-low three points, MacNeil continued to contribute all over the field with team-highs of four ground balls and seven draw controls. MacNeil was also one of five Valiants with a caused turnover, joined by Cabral, Pierce, Sydney Natale (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) and Erin Flaherty (Rockland, Mass./Canterbury School). DeBellis added five draw controls to match her season high.

Up Next
The longest road trip of the season begins on Wednesday as Manhattanville plays four straight away games. The first challenge awaits in New Paltz when the Valiants take on the Hawks at 3 p.m.