Box Score Box Score
PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's lacrosse team played their first-ever game in Freedom Conference play on Saturday afternoon, but it turned out to be a day the team wants to forget quickly after falling behind 8-0 in their 13-5 loss to the Misericordia Cougars at GoValiants.com Field.
Misericordia's Andrew Reynolds led all players with four goals, while Lee Blair had a game-high six points on three goals and three assists. Sophomore
Jeb Miller (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) had a team-leading two goals for the Valiants on the afternoon.
Blair got the offense started for Misericordia, scoring a man-up goal with 11:25 to go in the first quarter after taking a pass from Reynolds, who added four goals later in the game for a five-point afternoon. Misericordia went on to score five more times in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Cougars scored twice more to open up an 8-0 lead in the second quarter before the Valiants stopped the run on a goal by Miller with 11:40 to go in the second quarter. Misericordia and Manhattanville exchanged long offensive possessions with one another but were unable to score as it was still 8-1 heading to halftime.
After the break Misericordia won the opening faceoff but junior Dom Poletto (Engelwood, Colo./Regis Jesuit) made the save to give possession back to Manhattanville. The ensuing offensive possession saw Miller take three consecutive shots in less than a minute but was unable to hit the twine.
Misericordia's next offensive possession saw Blair score his third of the game and 30th of the season to give the Cougars a 9-1 lead. Misericordia scored twice more in the third period but sandwiched between the two Cougar tallies was a goal from junior Bill Motherway (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park). The game went to the final quarter with the Valiants trailing 11-2.
The fourth quarter was the lone bright spot for Manhattanville as they outscored their guests by a 3-2 margin. The first goal came from junior Will Sahakian (Natick, Mass./Rivers School) off a pass from sophomore Brendan Kuntz (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood). Senior Joe Daly (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) scored a man-down goal for the Valiants right off of a faceoff to make the score 12-4. Misericordia scored another man-up goal, followed by a goal from Miller once again to cap off the scoring at 13-5 with 7:57 remaining in the game.
Game totals saw Misericordia outshooting their hosts by a 59-34 margin while picking up 44 ground balls to Manhattanville's 36. Both turnovers and clears were fairly even, while man-up goals were well in favor of Misericordia at 4-0.
In goal, Patrick Johnson picked up his tenth win of the season while stopping 13 Valiant shots and allowing five goals. Poletto picked up his eighth loss against a pair of wins, stopping 17 shots and allowing 11 goals in net for Manhattanville. Freshman Paddy McClernon (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood) made a pair of saves and allowed as many goals in just under eight minutes of relief work in the fourth quarter.
Manhattanville (2-9, 0-1 Freedom) will continue their conference schedule on Tuesday evening when they travel to FDU-Florham for a date with the Devils at 7:00 p.m. Misericordia (10-1, 1-0 Freedom) will also be back in action on Tuesday when they host DeSales, also at 7:00 p.m.
