Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's soccer team played in its opening contest of the 2012 Valiant Classic against Western New England University on Saturday afternoon, and played to a 1-1 draw. Manhattanville got an early 1-0 lead on a goal by senior Moshee Kelyana (Scarborough, Ontario/Brebeuf College), but the team was unable to hold down their feisty opponents through the remainder of the game.
 
“I thought our approach to the game was very good, energy levels from our guys were high,” said head coach Gregg Miller about the start of the game going against a preseason top-25 team.
 
The game started out with the Golden Bears sending a shot on goal just 30 seconds into the contest that was stopped by freshman goalkeeper Steve Singson (Deer Park, N.Y./St. Anthony's). In the fourth minute of play Manhattanville was called for an offside but got the ball back after a Western New England turnover and Kelyana finished the rest sending a hard shot from the top of the 18-yard box into the goal to put the Valiants up 1-0.
 
After a series of offensive attacks from Western New England were called offside, the Valiants returned the favor with an offensive run of their own in which they had a pair of corner kicks as well as a pair of shots that were off the mark. Both teams rattled off two more shots apiece in the waning eight minutes of the half, but both Singson and Western New England goalkeeper Domenick Vellano denied the chances.
 
The halftime break concluded and the Golden Bears went right back into a strong offensive set. A foul was called 2:18 into the half and a penalty kick was awarded to Western New England. Senior defender Bobby Jameson was selected to take the penalty kick and sent the shot towards the upper right corner of the net and sent it home to tie the game at one apiece.
 
In the 68th and 69th minutes Manhattanville had several chances to re-take the lead after three corner kicks were taken with no success. With the game heading towards the end of regulation both sides were able to muster one more shot each, but again the goalkeepers were able to keep the ball in front of them and send the game to overtime.
 
About halfway through the first overtime period was Manhattanville's best scoring chance with a little help from the strong winds blowing at GoValiants.com Field. Western New England was called for a foul and senior Erick Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding) took a free kick from about 35 yards away and sent it towards the lower left corner of the goal as the wind put additional tailspin on the ball in flight. Vellano was able to make the diving save reaching just inside the post to send it wide of the net.

Western New England took three more shots over the remainder of both the first and the ensuing second overtime periods, to Manhattanville's one shot which was headed over the crossbar by junior Kyle Cassidy (Carmel, N.Y./Carmel). The final horn sounded three minutes later and the Valiants had settled for the 1-1 tie with the Golden Bears.
 
“The guys were upset with themselves is actually a positive sign,” Miller said after the loss. “We're still a long way from being the finished article, but what's nice to see is the energy level and the effort levels continuing to be consistently high.”
 
Manhattanville (2-1-1) will get right back to action tomorrow afternoon when they take on the Brooklyn Bulldogs at 3:30 p.m. as the 2012 Valiant Classic continues. Coverage of the game will be streamed live on GoValiants.TV with the pre-game show starting up a few minutes prior to kick-off. Western New England will have a few hours extra to rest as they take on DeSales in the finale of the Valiant Classic at 6:00 p.m.