Knights Drop Heartbreaker to Manhattanville

GLENSIDE, Pa., Thursday, April 21, 2011-- Called for 21 second half fouls, and a season-high 37 on the game, Arcadia University was helpless as visiting Manhattanville College was awarded five free position attempts in under three minutes mid-way through the second half of today's critical Middle Atlantic Conference Women's Lacrosse game that saw the Valiants increase their lead to six with under 12 to play, holding on to win by five 18-13 despite a desperate comeback effort from the Knights inside the three minute mark.

Manhattanville improves to 7-6 overall and 6-4 within the MAC standings and sit in a three-way deadlock for fourth with Alvernia and Lebanon Valley. Arcadia drops to 6-7 overall and 4-6 within the MAC, now sitting tied for eighth place overall with Widener with only three available spots left for the MAC Championship Tournament and two games remaining on their league schedule. Messiah, Elizabethtown and FDU-Florham have all secured post-season berths. The Knights might be down, but a playoff spot is still a possibility with two wins and some help from their foes next week.

This afternoon, both teams showcased smothering defensive play, the kind of play expected with a potential playoff berth on the line, unfortunately for the Knights, their second half momentum was deflated by constant stoppages of play in the Manhattanville offensive zone that allowed the Valiants, leading by only three at 23:36, to score five unanswered goals for a 18-10 lead with seven minutes to play. The resilient Knights, playing without one of their top scorer's in junior Stephanie Holguin, who was questionabley called for her second yellow card of the contest with 15 minutes to play in the game, finally hit the scoreboard for a trio of goals coming in the final 2:17 to settle for a respectable five goal loss. Arcadia was graciously provided five yellow cards on the afternoon, while the Valiants, playing a similiar if not tighter defensive game, escaped without any penalties.

Arcadia also had to contend with the Valiants top-scoring duo in Casandra Honovich and Melissa Goncalves, who combined for 14 of the Valiants 18 goals. Honovich scored a game-high 9 tallies, including her 48th of the season while Goncalves added five to improve to 40 goals on the year. For the Knights, sophomore Meghan Fallon (41 G), Holguin (42 G) and senior Kreena Patel (17 G) each scored three while seniors Jen Ng (9 G) and Kristen Chasse (8) and first-year Sara Volk-Perez (13 G) each added a goal.

The teams traded goals to open up game scoring with Fallon lighting the lamp first, answered by Honovich seconds later. Ng put Arcadia back on top 2-1 before Goncalves responded with three straight putting the Valiants in front 4-2 with 21:20 to play in the first half. Honovich scored again to make it a 5-2 lead for the Valiants and then the Knights went on a three-goal spree with another from Fallon and two from Holguin, all on the free position to knot the score at 5-5. Manhattanville would take a 10-6 lead with under two minutes remaining in the half before Fallon closed the Knights deficit to three (10-7) scoring unassisted on a drive that began in the mid-field with 40 seconds to play in the half.

Arcadia sophomore keeper Deanna Thompson did all she could to keep the game close but Honovich's created too many shooter vs. goalie situations for Arcadia's rookie keeper to stop. Thompson finished the game with three saves and two ground balls. Manhattanville's Kirsten Betsill, this week's MAC Goalie of the Week, made 13 stops in the cage for her sixth win of the season.

Shots were 33-27 in Arcadia's favor while the Valiants led 29-26 in ground balls. The Knights owned the draw control category 19-14 with senior Kaitlyn Gamber taking care of seven draws and the Knights committed two fewer turnovers 22-24. First-year Katie Bauer added five ground balls and three caused turnovers, both team highs for Arcadia.

The Knights play at home April 23 at 10 a.m. against local non-league opponent Penn State Abington. The Knights will honor their six seniors prior to the start of Saturday's home game before returning to their final week of regular season play with two must-win MAC games at Widener and Eastern .

Print Friendly Version