New Rochelle, N.Y. (April 27, 2007)? Le Moyne College extended its MAAC winning streak to 17 games during Friday afternoon's MAAC Women's Lacrosse Semifinal, but not before a resilient Manhattan squad made a valiant attempt at spoiling the Dolphins' already rainy day. Le Moyne, the tournament's top seed, needed four late unanswered goals to distance itself from Manhattan and post a 14-9 victory in the rain on Iona College's Mazella Field.
Le Moyne jumped out to an early 4-1 advantage and appeared on its way to a repeat of the regular season meeting between the two programs, but Manhattan senior Brenna Tinari made sure that would not be the case.
In a 1:05 span, Tinari sandwiched two goals around a tally from junior Alicia Psillos to pull Manhattan even at 4-4 with slightly less than 12 minutes remaining in the opening half.
Le Moyne responded minutes later by taking a 6-4 lead on two goals 27 seconds apart, but then it was Manhattan senior Lauren Civardi's turn to even the score. Civardi scored twice during the final ten minutes of the first half, and the two teams were tied at 7-7 going into the dressing room. Jasper senior Jenny Carman and Le Moyne's Molly Yaman also found the back of the net during the waning minutes of the period.
Manhattan kept MAAC Offensive Player of the Year Amanda Keegan in check for the majority of the opening frame, but the conference's leading point scorer quickly made her presence felt in the second half as her two goals in the first 35 seconds gave the Dolphins a 9-7 edge.
Only 36 seconds later, Carman scored her 30th of the year to pull the Jaspers back within one. Psillos, who was named to the 2007 All-MAAC First Team, earned the assist on the play.
After Whitney Vecchio scored for Le Moyne with 27:11 to play in regulation, Tinari once again pulled the Jaspers within one as her fourth goal of the game made it 10-9 at the 26:37 mark.
The teams played to a stalemate over the next ten minutes partly due to the effort of Manhattan goalie Ashley Devins. The two-time MAAC Defensive Player of the Week made 11 critical saves on the afternoon to keep the Jaspers within striking distance, but the Dolphins managed to create some separation down the stretch.
Manhattan's season ends at 5-11 overall after the Jaspers posted a 4-3 conference record to qualify for the MAAC Tournament for the sixth time in the last seven years.
