Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – Senior Will Sahakian (Natick, Mass./Rivers School) had a career-high six goal and eight  point night, while classmate Dom Poletto (Engelwood, Colo./Regis Jesuit) had another 17-save performance but it wasn't enough as the Manhattanville men's lacrosse team fell to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy by a 17-11 score on Wednesday evening.
 
The Valiants kept with their opponents early on in the game as they controlled the faceoffs through the entire first half. Sophomore Jack Polak (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) took the opening draw and quickly took a shot that went wide in the first five seconds of the game.
 
Merchant Marine took the first lead of the game on a man-up goal just under five minutes into the contest, but Manhattanville got back in the game quickly. Senior Bill Motherway (Kings Park, N.Y./Kings Park) netted his first goal of the contest with an assist coming from Sahakian.
 
With time winding down in the first period Troy Smith picked up his first of four goals on the evening.
 
Sahakian got on the board with his first goal to tie the game at two, several minutes later sophomore Tom Tarczali (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph) scored on an individual effort to tie the game at three. With only one second left on the clock, junior Mike Arena (Stratford, Conn./Saint Joseph) had his lone shot of the game go wide to end his unspoiled shooting percentage on the season to keep the game tied heading to the second quarter.
 
Manhattanville took its first lead of the game at 4-3 when Sahakian scored on a highlight-reel goal. The Mariners score three straight and regained a lead, which they only held for a short while as the Valiants responded with three straight of their own.
 
Motherway, Polak and Sahakian all scored before the halftime break, with Sahakian's tally coming in a man-up situation to give Manhattanville it's first halftime lead since the season opener against Vassar.
 
In the third quarter, the Mariners dominated play as they outshot their hosts by a 24-2 margin and it showed on the scoreboard as thy outscored Manhattanville by an 8-1 differential on the board. The Valiants' lone tally came from Sahakian with sophomore Cory Balog (Hamden, Conn./Hamden) grabbing his second assist of the game.
 
The fourth quarter saw Manhattanville score three of the first four goals of the period as Sahakian scored twice including his second man-up goal of the game. Motherway also added a man-up goal in the stretch to pick up his third goal of the contest.
 
Merchant Marine added two more goals through the remainder of the contest to finish off the scoring at 17-11. In the final minute of play as Poletto was attempting to clear the ball, he was called for a coincidental slashes that saw the senior vacate the net and onto the sideline. Sophomore Ray Zimlin (Graniteville, N.Y./Wyoming Seminary) came on to finish off the final 43 seconds of the game without registering a save.
 
The Valiants finished the game winning 21-of-30 faceoffs, while picking up 44 ground balls to the Mariners' 37. Poletto ended the game with 17 saves but fell to 0-8 on the season with the loss. Earning the win was Alex Peyreigne, who only needed to stop three shots to pick up the win.
 
Manhattanville (0-8) will take the next six days to take on another sea-faring opponent in SUNY Maritime on April 3 at 4 p.m. with coverage of the game available on GoValiants.com. Merchant Marine (5-3, 1-1 Landmark) will take on non-conference Montclair State on Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m.