PURCHASE, N.Y. – Colleen MacNeil (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) scored a season-high eight points and Meghan DeBellis (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) posted a career-high four tallies but it wasn't enough for the Manhattanville College women's lacrosse team in yet another rainy outing as the Valiants lost 18-14 to Skyline Conference foe Mount Saint Vincent on Tuesday night. The Valiants fall to 3-6 with the loss and sit at 0-2 in conference play.

A season-high nine goals by the reigning Skyline Conference Player of the Year Alicia Rodriguez paced the Dolphin attack. The junior was complimented by a five goal outing by Macey Forg.

There was goal-scoring aplenty as the teams combined for 17 total goals over the first half. It was the Valiants taking the early advantage with Kaci Pierce (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme) and MacNeil scoring just eight seconds apart to put the home team up a pair at the 12:17 mark. The Dolphins pulled even with Rodriguez' first two goals, but Pierce scored her second on MacNeil's second helper ahead of DeBellis' first of the night to reestablish Manhattanville's lead at 4-2 with 4:28 left in the opening quarter. Mount Saint Vincent split the lead in half off Forg's first of the contest in the closing minute to send the game into the second with the Valiants ahead 4-3.

Manhattanville opened the second quarter on a three-goal run. Lauren Sergeant (Hawthorne, N.Y./Westlake) scored her second goal of the season 56 seconds into the new frame before Pietra Cabral (Mineola, N.Y./Mineola) scored by way of Erin Flaherty (Rockland, Mass./Canterbury School) and DeBellis buried a MacNeil feed to put the Valiants up 7-3, its largest lead of the game. The Dolphins erased the advantage with four straight goals to notch things up at 7-7 with 6:45 left in the half. The MacNeil-to-Cabral connection scored twice over the final five minutes, but Ella Meberg beat the halftime horn to score with a second remaining to cut into the Manhattanville lead once again with the Valiants holding a 9-8 lead through the opening 30.

Gianna Mott (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) buried a pass from Cabral in the opening minute of the second half to once again put Manhattanville up by two scored, but Mount Saint Vincent took over across the ensuing eight minutes with five unanswered goals to take its first lead of the night. The Valiants put an end to run with four minutes left in the third as DeBellis scored her third of the night ahead of Flaherty scoring her second goal of the season from MacNeil. The Dolphins worked some closing second magic once again as Forg scored with 16 seconds left in the quarter to put the visitors up a pair, 14-12, entering the final quarter of play.

Mount Saint Vincent outscored the Valiants 4-2 over the final 15 minutes to close out the win. DeBellis and MacNeil accounted for Manhattanville's final goals of the contest, with Roshni Pawar (Beltsville, Md./CMIT Academy H.S. North) picking up the assist on DeBellis' fourth of the night. Manhattanville was unable to get closer than a two-goal deficit, with Rodriguez capping off her stellar night with the final two goals of the game.

MacNeil finished with team-bests six ground balls, seven draw controls and three caused turnovers as she continues to be an impact player in all facets of the game. Flaherty finished with three ground balls while Catrina Chinetti (Hyde Park, Mass./Boston Latin Academy) and Cabral joined MacNeil with three forced turnovers. Mott added four draw controls, while Katherine Stahl (Middletown, R.I./Middletown) finished with three.

Jacee Russello (Hope Valley, R.I./North Kingstown Senior) made four saves in the loss.

Up Next
The Valiants look to get back into the win column when the team closes out its non-conference slate on Saturday at 3:30 p.m., hosting Montclair State.

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