PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – Headed down south for Spring Break, the Manhattanville University women's lacrosse team broke into the win column in convincing fashion on Tuesday evening, defeating New England College 19-6 to open the Spring Fling Lacrosse Tournament. The win brings Manhattanville to 1-1 on the young season.

It took just seven seconds for the Valiants to break open the scoring as Manhattanville won the opening draw control and quickly moved the ball up field as Kathleen O'Mara (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) set up Kaci Pierce (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme) for the game's opening strike. The Valiants never looked back, scoring 10 times in the opening quarter. It was Manhattanville's highest scoring quarter since netting 10 tallies in the opening stanza against Purchase back on April 14, 2023.

O'Mara would strike on her lonesome a minute and a half later, the first of five goals for her on the day. The Pilgrims sliced the deficit in half with 12:49 left in the quarter on a Mackenzie McDonald goal before the Valiants responded with three straight goals. O'Mara and Ashley Glass (Mahopac, N.Y./Lakeland) recorded unassisted tallies separated by just 44 seconds before Pietra Cabral (Mineola, N.Y./Mineola) joined the party with her first goal of the season off an O'Mara assist with 9:16 left in the period.

The attacks continued to control the pace of play as Lilly Vaughn scored for NEC 19 seconds after Cabral's tally. The Valiants firmly took over with the next four goals as O'Mara continued her stellar first quarter with two more goals before Jocelyn Mazo (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) and Cabral capped off the Valiant run with a 9-2 lead. Vaughn got the Grims back on the board before Cabral joined O'Mara with a first quarter hat trick, scoring in the final minute to put the Valiants up 10-3.

Neither offense was able to match the relentless pace of the opening 15 minutes as the game slowed down significantly over the remainder of play. Cabral and Mazo delivered the first two goals of the second quarter to extend the Valiant lead up to nine. Lucy Armour would net New England's lone goal of the quarter with six minutes left in the half, but Glass added the final tally for the Valiants with 3:59 remaining in the second, sending Manhattanville into the intermission up 13-4.

The Valiants scored three straight goals to open the third and enact the running clock. O'Mara struck for the fifth time on the day 14 seconds off the draw before Cabral netted her fifth and sixth goals of the affair. The Pilgrims were able to get two back before quarter's end from McDonald and Carmella Goodwin, but still faced an uphill battle down ten with 15 minutes to play. The Valiant defense pitched a shutout in the final quarter as Mazo added two more goals before Mariah Stephens (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) capped off the night wither her first goal as a Valiant from Pierce.

In addition to her career-high six goals, Cabral finished the night as Manhattanville's ground ball leader with two. O'Mara, Pierce and Megan McDonald (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) each added one grounder for the Vals. O'Mara served as Manhattanville's leader on the draw control with nine.

McDonald earned her first collegiate victory, making four saves in her full 60 minutes in the net.

Up Next
The Valiants close out play at the Spring Fling on Thursday, taking on SUNY Canton at 11 a.m. EST.

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