PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – The Manhattanville University women's lacrosse team wrapped up action at the 2025 Spring Fling on Thursday, falling to SUNY Canton by a final of 18-9. The Valiants will head home from Florida having gone 1-1 in the Sunshine State, carrying a 1-2 overall record back north.

In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, the Roos took an early 2-0 lead off of Lindsey Wunder and Maddy Caron goals in the opening three minutes. The Valiants got on the board with 10:01 left in the quarter as Sydney Natale (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) buried her first goal of the season. Wunder struck again 49 seconds after Natale scored, but the Valiants took over the final seven minutes of the opening period. Kathleen O'Mara (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) continued her torrid start to her freshman campaign with a pair of goals to end the quarter, with Ashley Glass (Mahopac, N.Y./Lakeland) scoring from Pietra Cabral (Mineola, N.Y./Mineola) between the tallies from the Huntington native. O'Mara's second strike came with 35 ticks left on the clock, giving the Valiants a 4-3 lead through the opening 15.

The Roos came out firing in the second quarter, going on a 5-1 run over the first eight and a half minutes of the stanza. A pair of quick strikes in the first minute put Canton back ahead before Kaci Pierce (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme) brought the Vals even at 5-5 with her second score of the young season. The Roos responded with the next three tallies, but Glass provided the final strike of the half for Manhattanville to make it an 8-6 game heading into the third.

Canton seized control of the contest with a 6-1 scoring margin in the third. Ava Dupee and Caron added another pair of goals in the first minute out of the half to push the Roos' lead up to a four-goal margin. Cabral collected her seventh goal of the season later in the quarter, but Canton scored four unanswered goals to bring an end to the third up 14-7.

The Roo run continued with two more strikes to open up the fourth. Manhattanville was able to inch closer following back-to-back strikes by Jocelyn Mazo (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) and O'Mara, but time was working against the Valiants. Canton got two final goals by way of Wunder and Caron, their fourth and fifth tallies, respectively, of the day, to close out the contest.

Megan McDonald (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) made a season-high 12 saves in the Valiant net as the rookie netminder faced a new high of 35 shots in the contest. McDonald added three ground balls and a caused turnover to her ledger.

Both sides finished with 15 draw controls, with O'Mara leading Manhattanville's effort with eight.

With her hat trick, O'Mara leads the Valiants with 10 goals through the opening three games of the 2025 campaign.

Up Next
The Valiants are back in action at home on Wednesday afternoon to take on Delaware Valley at 4 p.m.

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