Box Score Boxscore
PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's soccer team needed less than nine minutes to erase a three-goal deficit midway through the second half and knot the score at three, but Stevens' Victor Daza responded with the game-winning score about two minutes later as the Ducks escaped Purchase with a 4-3 win over the Valiants and handed the home team its first loss of the year.
Daza's goal capped a wild second half that heated up a cool Saturday evening in Purchase, as the teams combined for six goals in a 19-minute span midway through the second stanza. After the Valiants had needed only 8:37 to score three times and erase a huge deficit, Daza waited only 2:07 himself before taking a long through ball from Zach Adler and beating Valiant grad student Jason Torres (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) for the eventual match-winning strike.
Such heroics did not seem necessary for Stevens earlier in the frame, as Stephen Dunbar followed up a first-half penalty kick goal from Adler by connecting on a pair of strikes from Zach Bowman to give the Ducks a seemingly commanding 3-0 lead with 25:40 remaining in the match.
But Manhattanville got on the board for the first time 68 seconds after Dunbar's second strike, as senior Daniel Carlryd (Gothenburg, Sweden/LM Engstrom) netted his first of the year in the 66th minute. On a corner kick from senior Adam Kent (London, England/Sutton Grammar), junior Marco Blasetti (Yonkers, N.Y./Rye Country Day) headed the ball back across the goal mouth to Carlryd in the middle of the box for a clean put away in the bottom corner.
The team was not done, as junior Eros Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding) continued his torrid start to the season by notching his first of the night at the 68:23 mark off a cross from his twin brother Erick Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding).
After nearly six minutes elapsed and the game seemed to have settled somewhat, Olazabal struck yet again at the start of the 75th minute, when the junior recorded his second of the game and 11th of the young season off passes from Carlryd and senior Keston George (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago/Victory Christian Academy) to improbably knot the score at three with 15:55 remaining.
However, Manhattanville seemed to let its good fortune get the best of it after that score, as a seemingly innocuous turnover in the offensive third resulted in a quick Stevens counter-attack and the game-winner going the other way just a few seconds later.
In an evenly played match by both sides, Manhattanville had slight edges in shots (12-10) and corner kicks (4-3), but both teams had their chances. Torres and his counterpart, Brian Schaake, only had to make one save apiece on the night, with Schaake earning the win in his collegiate debut and Torres suffering his first defeat of the season.
Manhattanville (5-1-0) will take to the road for the first time in 2011 on Wednesday afternoon, as the Valiants make the trip to Farmingdale State for a 4 p.m. matchup with the Rams. Stevens (4-2-0) will host NSCAA #9 Swarthmore on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
