PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University women's lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought battle against Saint Joseph's Long Island on Wednesday night, falling 19-14 to the Golden Eagles on GoValiants.com Field. The loss drops the Valiants to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play, now fifth in the Skyline standings with two games to play.
Ashley Glass (Mahopac, N.Y./Lakeland) led the offensive charge with five points, scoring four goals for the second time this season. It was the sophomore's best offensive output since her seven-point performance her rookie season against Purchase last April.
Pietra Cabral (Mineola, N.Y./Mineola),
Bridget Sonju (Canton, Conn./Canton High School) and
Kaci Pierce (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme) each finished with four points. Pierce picked up all her points on goals, bringing her to 99 tallies for her career. Sonju scored three times for the first time in her rookie campaign, while Cabral handed out four assists for the second time this year.
As has become standard fare most times the two teams meet, a back-and-forth ensued through the first half as neither team could take a multi-score lead and tied at 11 separate scores.
Kaitlyn Ippolito scored first for the visitors 2:52 into the game before the Valiants struck twice, first Sonju from Cabral at 8:56 before Pierce scored her first on a solo effort at 7:13. The Golden Eagles responded with the next two before Glass tied the game off a Cabral assist with 4:20 left in the quarter. Both teams ended the first with a woman-up tally, with
Jocelyn Mazo (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) tying the game again with 54 seconds left on Cabral's third assist of the quarter at 4-4.
Glass began the second period with her second of the game 42 seconds into the new quarter. After Saint Joseph's netted two more, Pierce and Glass put the Valiants ahead 7-6 with 6:19 left in the half, with
Lauren Mumaw (Kingsville, Md./Mercy High School) earning the assist on the Glass tally. The Golden Eagles scored the next two tallies, responded soon after by Sonju and Pierce. Just as it looked like Manhattanville would be heading into the intermission with the lead, Emily Farrington scored with four seconds left in the half to tie the game once again at 9-9.
Sonju and Mazo scored a pair of woman-up goals through the opening 4:15 of the third, sandwiching Taylor Metzler's goal for SJLI to put the Valiants up 11-10. The Golden Eagles finally captured the sustained scoring run that eluded both teams through the first half of the game, scoring four unanswered to take a 14-11 lead with 2:57 left in the third. Pierce got Manhattanville back within a pair in the final minute on Cabral's fourth helper to send the game into the final 15 with the Valiants down 14-12.
Saint Joseph's blew the game open with four-straight goals to begin the fourth.
Sydney Natale (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) scored with the player advantage after a Golden Eagle green card off an assist from Sonju while Glass scored her fourth of the night with 3:56 left in regulation, but that would be the last of the Valiant offense. SJLI got one more on Sabrina Doyle's sixth goal of the game to close out the 19-14 win.
Mary Kopf (Congers, N.Y./Clarkstown High School North) suffered the loss, making a season-high 13 saves in a full 60 minutes of play. The rookie goalkeeper's record now stands at 1-3 with a 14.37 goals-against average.
Erin Flaherty (Rockland, Mass./Canterbury School) finished with a pair of caused turnovers to lead the defensive effort while collecting two ground balls and earning three draw controls. Mazo also won three draw controls, with the pair trailing only Cabral's four. Kopf had a team-high four ground balls, while
Sydney Natale (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) walked away with three.
Up Next
The Valiants play their final road game of the regular season on Saturday at Old Westbury at 2 p.m.
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