Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Lacrosse team won consecutive games for the first time this season on Tuesday with a hard fought 14-13 home non-conference win over Manhattanville. Claire Duffy (Monroe, N.Y.) and Katie Gattoni (Old Tappan, N.J.) each tallied four times for the Knights.
 
Mount Saint Mary scored the first two goals of the game and led 2-1 before ripping off three straight goals to pull in front 5-1 on a Kathleen McGinnis (Shelton, Conn.) goal with just over 14 minutes left in the opening half.
 
Manhattanville scored two straight goals to move to within 5-3, but the Knights scored four of the final five goals of the half to carry a 9-4 lead into the intermission. Gattoni scored twice in the final 2:37 of the half and Duffy found the back of the net with 12 ticks left before halftime to close out the scoring in the frame.
 
Mount Saint Mary outshot Manhattanville 17-7 in the opening 30 minutes, including 16-7 in shots on goal. The Knights took a 13-9 edge into halftime in groundballs and won nine of the 14 draw controls contested.
 
Coming out of the break, Mount Saint Mary scored the first three goals of the second half to increase its lead to 12-4 with 19:22 left in regulation. Gattoni, Shannon McGuiness (Oceanside, N.Y.) and Jen Gries (Hicksville, N.Y.) each scored in the opening 10:38 of the second stanza.
 
Following Gries' goal to open the eight goal advantage, Manhattanville scored the next four goals to close to within 12-8 and used a three goal run later in the half to slice the Mount Saint Mary advantage to just two goals at 13-11.
 
McGuinness gave the Knights back a three goal lead with her 11^th goal of the season with 3:12 left in regulation, but one last Valiant spurt came up just short.
 
Christina Leva and Kat Rielly scored nearly 10 seconds apart in the final minute and had a shot hit the post with just over 30 seconds left in regulation. A turnover and clear by the Knights in the final 20 seconds ended the threat and secured the victory.
 
Manhattanville outscored Mount Saint Mary 9-5 in the second frame and dominated draw controls, winning 12 of the 15 taken after halftime.
 
Gattoni and Duffy each finished the game with four goals and an assist, with Duffy rounding out a strong all-around game with seven groundballs, three caused turnovers and five draw controls. McGuinness finished the game with three tallies and five draw controls for the Knights.
 
Freshman Maggie Pedersen (Glasco, N.Y.) totaled four groundballs and three caused turnovers and McGinnis chipped in with a goal and a pair of draw controls.
 
The visitors were led by five goals and an assist from Carly Weiss with Kat Reilly adding three tallies. Diana Bajraktari led the team with five groundballs with Sarah Dalsey chipping in with two goals and seven draw controls.
 
Both goalies played strong games on Tuesday, with Mount Saint Mary net minder Amanda Picillo (Valley Stream, N.Y.) recording 11 saves to go along with a pair of groundballs. Alana Lopez finished the game with 14 stops for the Valiants.
 
For the game, Mount Saint Mary was outshot 32-31 overall, but held a 28-24 edge in shots on goal. The Valiants picked up 23 groundballs to 21 for the Knights with the visitors also holding the edge in draw controls 17-12.
 
At 4-2 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary will return to action on Thursday when it welcomes Vassar to Kaplan Field. Opening Draw with the Brewers is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.

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