Boxscore

PURCHASE, N.Y. –  The Manhattanville men's soccer team put up a tough fight against Plattsburgh State on Day One of the 2010 Valiant Classic, but fell to the Cardinals, 1-0, on Friday evening at GoValiants.com Field.

Mike Payne scored the lone goal in the 24th minute of first half to give the visiting squad the 1-0 edge. Payne received a cross pass from Stjepan Bandov and used a Valiant defender to screen senior netminder Jason Torres (Harrison, N.Y.) for the goal. However, Manhattanville pressured the Cardinals throughout the remainder of the half and finished with five shots.

With pressure still at a high in the second half, Manhattanville senior Shaune Allan (Edinburgh, Scotland) aided the team with his up tempo ability and great footwork to counteract the Cardinals' trap-like defense. The Valiants once again outplayed Plattsburgh, but were unsuccessful on eight attempts to reach the goal. In the 61st minute, Allan blasted a one-touch rocket into the chest of Cardinals netminder Andy Heighington to keep the road team ahead.  Later in the contest, junior Keston George (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago) had an attempt to tie with a shot from atop the 18-yard box, but Heighington dove to his left to make the save.

Manhattanville finished with a 13-3 margin in shots, with Heighington making five saves for his third victory of the season, while Torres made one save and was dealt his second defeat on the year.

Manhattanville (1-2-0, 0-0-0 Freedom) will return to the pitch tomorrow evening as the Valiants will meet Farmingdale State College at 7 p.m. in the final men's contest of the Valiant Classic. Plattsburgh State (3-0-1, 0-0-0 SUNYAC) will get little rest as the Cardinals will also be in action tomorrow against Baruch at 5 p.m. Follow the action of both games tomorrow with live stats on GoValiants.com and live video of the Manhattanville/Farmingdale State game on GoValiants.TV.