News Release

Manhattanville Wins Freedom Regular Season Title

Cybil Robinson (South Lake Tahoe, Calif.) put home a rebound 20 seconds into the second half as the Valiants completed an improbable season turnaround with a 1-0 win over Wilkes Wednesday night at GoValiants.com Field, clinching the Freedom Conference Regular Season Title, the first conference championship in the program�s 28-year history.

The Valiants finished second in the Skyline Conference last year before joining the Freedom this summer, and while Manhattanville was picked second in the league in preseason voting, living up to that billing seemed unlikely after the team went 0-11-2 during the non-conference season. But the young Valiants started fresh in league play and have ripped off five consecutive wins to lock up the regular season crown.

Last season, the Valiants won the ECAC Metro Tournament Championship � the program�s first postseason title of any kind � and won a school-record 14 times. In his third season, Head Coach Matt Paton and the Valiants have now secured home field throughout the four-team Freedom Conference Tournament, with the winner earning an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, a place the Manhattanville program has never been.

Wednesday, the two defensive-minded teams played a first half bogged down in midfield, with the sides combining for only five shots. Coming into Wednesday, Manhattanville and Wilkes had combined to allow only three goals in eight Freedom Conference games, and as expected, scoring chances were hard to come by.

Manhattanville got the winner right out of the halftime break, taking the opening kick and moving into Wilkes territory quickly. The ball came out to reigning Freedom Conference Player of the Week Holly Nonis (Brampton, Ontario) who fired one off the crossbar from the left edge of the box. Robinson snuck in the weak side and poured in the easy rebound goal, her fifth of the season and the 16th of her career, and the Valiant defense made it stand up.

Ali Bromson (Suffield, Conn.) made three saves for her fourth shutout of the year. In five Freedom Conference matches, the freshman has allowed only two goals and boasts a 0.43 goals against average. Liz Pauly made three saves in defeat for the Colonels.

Manhattanville (5-11-2, 5-0-0 Freedom) will go for a perfect conference season Saturday when they conclude the regular season at Delaware Valley at 1:00 p.m. The Valiants will host a Freedom Conference Semifinal match Tuesday, October 30 at GoValiants.com Field against the league�s fourth place finisher. The game time will be announced later this week.

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Submitted 2007-10-24 16:50:34 by Manhattanville College Sports Information Department

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