Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's soccer team defeated the Delaware Valley Aggies in Freedom Conference play on Saturday afternoon by the score of 2-0. The Valiants got goals from junior Thomas Wagner (Guatemala City, Guatemala/German School) and senior Marco Blasetti (Yonkers, N.Y./Rye Country Day) on the afternoon.

Prior to the start of the contest the Valiants honored Breast Cancer Awareness month by wearing pink warm-up gear and sporting pink shoe laces. During the pre-game introductions the team was escorted to the field by honorary captain and Manhattanville Assistant to the Athletic Director Barbra Kelly, a cancer survivor herself.

During the first 2:08 of game time Manhattanville rattled off three quick shots including a pair from senior Erick Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding). Delaware Valley responded with a pair of shots through the next seven minutes of play.

The Valiants got on the board at 15:27 when Wagner flicked in a shot that was going wide off the foot of Olazabal. For Wagner, who got the start in the contest, it was his first career goal.

Senior Moshee Kelyana (Scarborough, Ontario/Brebeuf College) made a strong effort to increase the lead to 2-0 but was denied by Aggies goalkeeper Chase Clement, who made a leaping save to keep the ball from reaching the back of the net. Kelyana had yet another scoring chance after receiving a great through ball from Olazabal, the shot sailed just over the crossbar.

As the game crossed into the final minute of the first half, junior Kyle Cassidy (Carmel, N.Y./Carmel) sent a long ball up ahead towards Blasetti, who in turn dodged around a pair of Aggies' defenders, and launched a hard shot past the outstretched arm of Clement for his career-best fourth goal of the season.

The first 15 minutes in the second half were split down the middle in terms of both sides possessing the ball, freshman Steve Singson (Deer Park, N.Y./St. Anthony's) made a highlight-reel save on a shot by Delaware Valley's Steve Mannato.

Manhattanville controlled much of the play down the remainder of the game as they had a point-blank chance off the foot of sophomore Sebastian Town (Taipei, Taiwan/Taipei American School) that was stoned by Clement. Olazabal also had a chance in the 68th minute that was also stopped by the Aggie netminder.

The Valiants concluded the game at came away with their third Freedom Conference victory of the season and sixth win overall. Singson earned the shutout victory while making eight saves on the afternoon, while Clement suffered the loss after yielding a pair of goals and stopping 13 Valiant shots on goal.

“It was a very flat game,” said Manhattanville head coach Gregg Miller after the game. “Whether it was the early kickoff time that affected the atmosphere of the game, the level of our play reflected that. We played well in spurts which allowed us to do enough to win the game. Having said that, our guys feel they can play at a higher level, and with no disrespect to our opponent we should killed the game off earlier.

“The most important thing is that we got a win and a clean sheet. Now we have to prepare ourselves for an extremely difficult game on the road against DeSales,” said Miller in closing.

Manhattanville (6-5-3, 3-1-0 Freedom) will next play on Wednesday when they travel to Center Valley, Pa. to take on the DeSales Bulldogs at 3:00 p.m. Delaware Valley (7-5-1, 0-4-0 Freedom) will next play host to FDU-Florham also on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.