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READING, Pa. – Junior forward
Eros Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding) continued his impressive start to the 2011 season, netting all four goals to lead the Manhattanville men's soccer team to a 4-2 victory over non-conference Albright on Saturday evening .
Olazabal's four goals tie him for third on the school's single-game goals list, one behind the program record he tied earlier this season against York (N.Y.). Easily the Division III leader in goals and points so far this season, he already ranks fourth on the school's single-season goals list with 18 tallies in the first eight matches of the year, while his 39 points are already tied for fourth on Manhattanville's single-season ledger.
The Valiants started out flat in their second road test of the season, allowing Albright's Mark Yost to score on a header 4:48 into the contest. For the next 20 minutes the two sides continued to test the opposing goalkeepers, with the netminders coming up with the saves.
At the 26:05 mark Eros scored his first of the evening on a combo play coming from seniors Keston George (Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago/Victory Christian Academy) and Daniel Carlryd (Gothenburg, Sweden/LM Engstrom).
Less than five minutes later, Eros scored once again to give the Valiants a 2-1 lead on a header after it was crossed from his twin brother, junior Erick Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding). Less than three minutes later three more Valiants had scoring chances, with Albright keeper Billy Howard stopping the shots from freshman Yani Quinteros (Shirley, N.Y./William Floyd), junior Marco Blasetti (Yonkers, N.Y./Rye Country Day) and Carlryd.
After the barrage of shots the remaining minutes ticked off the clock and the Valiants went into the break with a 2-1 advantage over the Lions.
With halftime over, Albright made a change in goal with Tim Compton making his way between the posts. Compton was not tested after coming in as the Albright offense was able to string together four corner kick opportunities and four shots.
The first shot that Compton faced came off the foot of Eros once again, as he collected a through ball from Carlryd to give Manhattanville a 3-1 edge. Less than four minutes later Albright came within inches of scoring a goal to trim the lead as a shot by Vitali Zalhula rang off the post.
Tyler Waters of Albright finally broke through to trim the lead to 3-2 scoring at the 78:02 mark on a corner kick that he knocked down and put past Manhattanville keeper Jason Torres (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison). But once again Eros came through in a big spot a mere 18 seconds later to put the game on ice as he scored his fourth goal of the game and 18th of the season to add some insurance for the Valiants to pick up the win.
George and Carlryd were able to get shots off in the final 10 minutes of the game to no avail as the clock wound down to give the Valiants their seventh win of the season.
In terms of shots, the Valiants were outshot by their hosts, 16-14, but were more accurate as 10 of Manhattanville's shots were on target to the Lions' five. Corner kicks were also in favor of Albright by a 13-6 margin.
In goal Torres collected his fourth win of the season against one loss, making three saves in the process. The loss was picked up by Compton, who allowed the third goal in the second half to give the Valiants the game-winner.
Manhattanville (7-1-0) will return home after its brief two-game road trip to take on Merchant Marine at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening as part of a Manhattanville triple header also featuring the field hockey and women's soccer teams. All three games can be seen live on GoValiants.TV. Albright (5-2) will end their five-game homestand on Wednesday afternoon when they host DeSales at 7:00 p.m.
