Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's lacrosse team was defeated by Farmingdale State at home on Wednesday falling 16-9, despite an outstanding performance by goaltender Ian Reill (East Rockaway, N.Y./East Rockaway).  The freshman, who was adapted to the speed of college play quickly, was able to turn away 19 of 35 shots to keep the Valiants close for most of the contest at a rain-soaked GoValiants.com Field.

Freshman Andrew Murray (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) continued his excellent play for Manhattanville in a losing effort, leading the squad with three points on two goals and an assist. Sophomore Connor Normandin (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) and freshman Ed Motherway (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) both had two goals each for the Valiants as well, while junior Jack Polak (Longmeadow, Mass./Longmeadow) added a goal and an assist.

After conceding the first goal of the game, the Valiants came back and tied the score at one with a nice goal by freshman defenseman Ed Seganti (Rockville Center, N.Y./South Side), who took the ball the length of the field and fired a bouncer past Farmingdale State goaltender Nicholas Fasano.

The score wasn't tied 1-1 for long as the Rams scored the next four goals, ignited by two man-up goals just two minutes apart, ending the first quarter with a 5-1 lead.

The Valiants battled back in the second quarter and were able to score four of the next five goals to pull within one.  The surge of offense was led by Murray, who scored both his goals in the second quarter. Helping him was fellow freshman Colin Morrissey (Shelton, Conn./St. Joseph), who picked up his eighth goal of the season on a man-up opportunity with 5:36 remaining in the second quarter. 

The closest the Valiants got all evening was when Murray put home his second goal of the game with 3:08 remaining in the first half.  Farmingdale State scored eight of the next nine goals in the game, giving the Rams an insurmountable lead.   

The x-factor in this game was Farmingdale State's junior attacker Philip Schaefer, who scored five goals to increase his goals on the season to 14.  The Valiants defense was stingy but unable to cause turnovers as Schaefer proved to be lethal and efficient operating out of the X position behind the Valiant goal.

The Valiants will host Clark University on Saturday in what they hope will be friendlier weather conditions. Clark will enter Saturday's contest with a 3-2 record following their 18-12 loss to Salve Regina on Wednesday evening.  Faceoff is at 1 pm.