Box Score Box Score
PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's lacrosse team was outscored by a 6-2 margin in the final 30 minutes of play as the Valiants dropped a home contest to the University of New England by the score of 11-6 on Thursday afternoon at from GoValiants.com Field.
The game opened up with both teams struggling to keep possession, with turnovers committed on both sides of the ball. The Nor'easters opened the scoring with two quick strikes in a span of less than 60 seconds to take a 2-0 lead with 8:34 to go in the opening period.
Sophomore Brendan Kuntz (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) split the lead in half with a goal off a pass from junior Will Sahakian (Natick, Mass./Rivers School) with 4:28 to go in the quarter. Three minutes later New England, regained their two goal lead when Tyler Thomas scored off an assist from Dan O'Gorman from the wing. With under 30 seconds to go in the period, junior Justin Figueroa (Ardsley, N.Y./Ardsley) made the score 3-2 heading to the second quarter with his first of the year.
Like in the first period, neither team got on the board during the early minutes of the frame. The first goal eventually went to New England after they got a goal with 7:22 to go to expand their lead back to two.
Freshman Connor Castleman (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood) pulled the Valiants back after receiving a shovel pass from senior Joe Daly (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac), who was surrounded by three New England players attempting to take the ball away. Both teams exchanged goals in the final three minutes of the period, with the final tally coming from freshman Corey Steimel (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo) to send it into halftime at 5-4 in favor of New England.
The third period belonged entirely to the Nor'easters, who scored four times in the frame to balloon their lead up to 9-4. In the period the shots were fairly close at 9-8 UNE, but turnovers and some good play from New England netminder Dylan Thomas helped put the Valiants down by five heading into the fourth.
In the last period, New England started off with the ball after a carry-over penalty from the third frame; however, the Nor'easters turned the ball over on a stick check from junior Peter Callahan (Fairfield, Conn./Salisbury School). Manhattanville got on the board first in the period as Castleman scored once again for the Valiants off a pass from behind the cage from Sahakian. The Valiants kept up the attack, earning several good offensive chances including several shots from Daly.
But two Valiant penalties came back to haunt the home team, allowing New England a pair of man-up scores just over a minute apart to take an 11-5 lead. Steimel added Manhattanville's sixth goal of the game with 4:25 left, but Manhattanville was unable to stage a comeback as they fell by a score of 11-6.
Earning the win was Porter, who moves to 5-2 while stopping 12 shots and allowing the first five Manhattanville goals before Jay Letendre came on for the final 4:36 and allowed the final Valiant goal. Taking the loss for Manhattanville was junior Dom Poletto (Engelwood, Colo./Regis Jesuit), who falls to 1-5 on the year despite making 15 saves in the losing effort.
As a team Manhattanville went 30-for-33 on clears while New England went 23-of 31 on clear attempts from their end of the field.
Manhattanville (1-6) will return to play on Wednesday afternoon when they travel to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at 7:00 p.m. New England will get back to action against Western Connecticut at 12:00 p.m.
