MAHWAH, N.J. – Led by 11 total goals from the duo of Colleen MacNeil (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and Pietra Cabral (Mineola, N.Y./Mineola), the Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team won a Tuesday night thriller at Ramapo, besting the Roadrunners 18-16. The Valiants have now won two straight to improve to 3-4 overall on the season.

Manhattanville's leading scoring duo on the season shined in Tuesday's win as the Valiants would ultimately need all 13 total points provided by MacNeil and Cabral. Senior MacNeil set a new season-high with her six goal performance, the most she's scored in a game since her eight goal outing against Neumann as a member of the Mount Saint Vincent roster back in 2022. Cabral, meanwhile, scored five goals for the first time in her collegiate career while handing out a pair of assists.

The win was the Valiants' fourth-straight over Ramapo with a streak dating back to 2017.

The Valiants got off to a red-hot start with four goals in the opening six minutes. After Cabral began the night with the first scored 1:14 into the game, MacNeil scored three straight goals to put the Valiants up 4-0. In total, the teams combined for 10 goals over the opening 15 minutes of play. The Roadrunners got on the board with 8:08 left in the quarter from Erin Smeilus which was answered by Cabral netting her second of the affair off an assist by Kaci Pierce (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme). Ramapo scored the next two from Kelly Griffin before Gianna Mott (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) and Cabral wrapped up the high-paced opening quarter with the Valiants' final two goals to put Manhattanville up 7-3.

Nine more goals were scored before halftime, with the Roadrunners being the beneficiaries of six to pull right back into the contest. After Meghan DeBellis (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) scored a free-position goal four minutes into the second quarter, the Roadrunners got three straight tallies from Smeilus, Esme Espinosa and Griffin to chop into Manhattanville's lead at 8-6. The first two goals of the run came following Valiant penalties as Ramapo took advantage with the extra player opportunities. MacNeil put an end to the run as she scored her fourth of the half from Cabral with 2:39 remaining before the break. It would be a wild final two minutes with four goals scored. After Smeilus and DeBellis traded scores, the Roadrunners scored twice in the final 11 seconds by Espinosa and Kaylie Gresek to make it a 10-9 game at the half.

Ramapo rode the momentum of the late tallies into the third, extending their run to six unanswered goals to take their first lead of the game at 13-10 with 10:19 left in the quarter. Facing their first deficit of the night, the Valiants took control in the second half of the quarter with four unanswered goals over the final 7:34. MacNeil scored twice while Mott and Cabral each added a tally as part of the run, allowing the Valiants to pull back in front at 14-13 entering the final 15 minutes of regulation. Katherine Stahl (Middletown, R.I./Middletown) logged the sole assist of the run, collecting the helper on Mott's second of the game.

Like the Roadrunners did the quarter prior, Manhattanville extended their scoring streak to open up the fourth as Lauren Sergeant (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) and Sydney Natalae added insurance goals for the Valiants to go up 16-13. The Roadrunners erased the two tallies as Griffin and Bethany Glaser struck before the clock dipped under ten minutes to play. Nursing a one goal lead, the Valiants shined up their defensive effort while adding some breathing room off goals by Pierce and Cabral. Espinosa got back into the goal column for Ramapo with 47 seconds remaining but the Valiants held on for the 18-16 win.

Paz Hassan-Contreras (Lansing, Mich./Okemos) earned her first win in net as she played the second half in goal. The rookie made four stops while allowing seven goals. She relieved Jacee Russello (Hope Valley, R.I./North Kingstown Senior) who got the start, allowing nine goals with one save in her 30 minutes in the first half.

It was another strong presence all over the field for MacNeil who made an impact beyond the offensive eruption. The senior captain finished with team-highs of 16 draw controls and four caused turnovers while adding four ground balls. Catrina Chinetti (Hyde Park, Mass./Boston Latin Academy) finished as the team's ground ball leader with five while adding three draw controls. Natale scooped three grounders, caused a pair of takeaways and earned a draw control for Manhattanville.

Up Next
The Valiants wrap up a four-game road trip on Friday with their Skyline Conference opener at Maritime at 7 p.m.