GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. – The Manhattanville men's soccer team battled through injuries on Saturday to earn a 1-1 draw against Gwynedd-Mercy in a non-conference matchup. Freshman Wes Wilson (Hagerstown, Md./North Hagerstown) scored Manhattanville's only goal of the afternoon in the 77th minute to allow the Valiants to salvage a draw.

The Valiants looked to be the more dominant team of the afternoon, outshooting Gwynedd-Mercy by a 16-7 margin overall and putting eight shots on goal to the home team's four, but still needed Wilson's late goal to earn the tie against a tough Griffin squad.

"Overall I'm happy that we came back from a goal down after we conceded a poor goal early on," said head coach Gregg Miller. "Gywnedd-Mercy had won four in a row before today and they certainly make life difficult for teams." 

Trevor Sotell of the Griffins opened the scoring 12 minutes into the match as he settled a header that was deflected to him and put it past freshman goalkeeper Sean McAllister (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) into the bottom left corner of the net. 

"The disappointing thing for us was that they hadn't really posed a threat before they scored," Miller added. "Once they got the goal they were happy to defend in numbers and we struggled to break them down."

Due to those tactics, the game remained 1-0 in favor of Gwynedd-Mercy until the 77th minute, when Wilson settled a cross from classmate Dan Lorandini (Garden City Park, N.Y./New Hyde Park Memorial) put it past Griffins' keeper Greg Gengaro to even the score at one.

The teams played two close extra-time periods, with both teams registering three shots. In his first career start, McAllister made three saves to keep the Griffins at bay, including a huge penalty-kick stop in the second overtime that could have won the match for the Griffins. 

"I was very happy with Sean's performance today," said Miller of his freshman keeper. "We have three injured keepers at the moment and he was the healthiest of the three. He made a great save [on the penalty kick] in the second overtime to keep us in the game."

The draw moves Manhattanville's record to 3-6-1 on the season.  The Valiants will have one more non-conference match this Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. against Merchant Marine at GoValiants.com Field before beginning their conference tournament play next Saturday.