Emily Connell scored three goals to lead the Misericordia University women's lacrosse team to a 9-4 win over Manhattanville in the MAC Freedom semifinals, Wednesday afternoon at Mangelsdorf Field.

Lexee Willey and Amy Roth added two goals each and Kaila Quinlivan had three assists as the Cougars improved to 12-3.

Liz Mulvey and Ashley Hobbs added a goal and an assist each.

Katie McLoughlin made eight saves in goal to lead Misericordia to its third consecutive MAC Freedom championship game.

Quinlivan added three draw controls, two caused turnovers and two ground balls and Connell had two draw controls and two ground balls.

Jenna Nance had two goals and an assist for the Valiants and Carly Weiss added a goal and an assist.

Lauren Cassidy made 11 saves in goal and Sarah Dalsey had four ground balls, two caused turnovers and two draw controls.

Willey gave the Cougars the lead when she bounced in a free position shot less than two minutes into the game.

Roth made a nice spin move at the top of the arc and drove the down the middle and placed a shot inside the left post for a 2-0 lead 10 minutes later.

Mulvey took a pass from Kate Raab in the middle and whipped a shot inside the left post for a 3-0 lead with 12:13 left in the first half.

Connell took a pass from Hobbs in space and carried down the middle of the field to make it 4-0 with 10:47 left.

Manhattanville got on the board with a free position shot from Nance with 8:55 to go in the half.

Following a Manhattanville foul in their own end, Quinlivan found Hobbs in stride down the middle and she placed a shot inside the left post for a 5-1 lead with
3:29 to play.
Nance found Weiss near the right post with 1:12 to go and Nance bounced in a shot off a fast break with under a minute to go to cut MU's lead to 5-3 at halftime.

Roth took a feed from Quinlivan and drove the left side for a goal and a 6-3 lead early in the second half.

Mulvey made a nice pass from the right baseline to Connell in front of the net to make it 7-3 less than a minute later.

Katie Zambrotta took a nice feed from Weiss near the left post to get the Valiants with 7-4 with 25:14 remaining

Connell bounced a shot inside the right post for a man-up goal with 11:30 to play and Willey scored on a fast break off a turnover to finish off the scoring with
7:57 to play.

Misericordia will travel to FDU-Florham for the MAC Freedom championship game, Saturday.