PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University women's lacrosse team saw its season come to an end on Saturday afternoon with a 17-12 loss to fourth-seeded Saint Joseph's Long Island in the opening round of the 2026 Skyline Conference Championship Tournament. Manhattanville concludes the year with a 7-9 record overall, making the postseason tournament for a second-straight season.
Meeting in the postseason for the third time in the last five seasons, fifth-seeded Manhattanville could not erase a seven-goal halftime deficit as the Golden Eagles punched their ticket to the Skyline Semifinals.
Manhattanville struck first in hostile territory, needed just 42 seconds for
Kathleen O'Mara (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) for deliver the game's first goal from
Pietra Cabral (Mineola, N.Y./Mineola). The Valiants remained in front for close to four minutes before Kaitlyn Ippolito netted the equalizer for the Golden Eagles. Sabrina Doyle gave the home side its first lead with 8:41 left in the opening quarter before Cabral and O'Mara slotted home unassisted tallies to tie the game at three. Emily Grace Passaro broke the tie with 1:59 left in the opening quarter, putting the Golden Eagles in front the rest of the way.
Saint Joseph's began to pull away with four-straight goals to begin the second quarter, jumping out to an 8-3 lead with 8:13 left in the half.
Kaci Pierce (Niantic, Conn./East Lyme) snapped the Golden Eagles' scoring run with her first of the game with seven minutes on the clock. SJLI reestablished the five-goal advantage a minute later off Taylor Metzler's tally before
Bridget Sonju (Canton, Conn./Canton High School) responded for the Valiants with 4:24 to go with the numbers advantage after a Golden Eagle penalty. It would be all Saint Joseph's for the rest of the half as the home team scored three times in the closing 3:27 to take a 12-5 lead into the break.
O'Mara scored twice in the third with a pair of unassisted tallies, but both of her goals were matched by Saint Joseph's to maintain the seven-goal cushion. Sonju struck again for the Valiants with 1:41 left in the quarter with her second woman-up goal of the affair, and while Saint Joseph's got the goal back 33 seconds later,
Ashley Glass (Mahopac, N.Y./Lakeland) scored for the Valiants with 32 seconds left from Cabral to make it a six goal game with a quarter to play.
The late Glass tally was a bit of a momentum shift as the Valiants were not ready to go home without a fight. Cabral scored from Sonju before
Jocelyn Mazo (Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck) netted an unassisted tally to get Manhattanville withing four with 7:54 left in regulation. The Golden Eagles shored up the defensive play, limiting Manhattanville's offensive chances as Metzler's woman-up goal with 3:42 on the clock effectively snuffed out the Valiants' comeback bid. Cabral would score her 32
nd goal of the season with 42 seconds to go before Metzler beat the buzzer for Saint Joseph's on the other end to bring a close to the 17-12 contest.
Mary Kopf (Congers, N.Y./Clarkstown High School North) played the first half in net for the Valiants, making eight saves and allowing 12 goals. The freshman ends her rookie season with 65 saves, going 2-5 in the cage.
Megan McDonald (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) closed out the game in the second half with four saves and five goals allowed.
All-Conference senior
Sydney Natale (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) was the Valiants' leading playmaker in the defensive end with three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers, both team-highs. Kopf, O'Mara and
Ava Wade (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester) finished with two ground balls each.
Cabral collected four draw controls as Manhattanville's leader on the dot, with Mazo supplying another three.
Saint Joseph's Long Island advances to the Skyline semifinals with the win, taking on top-seeded Merchant Marine on Wednesday.
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