PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's lacrosse team improved to 1-1 on the season, beating the Maritime Privateers 8-7 in a tightly contested game at GoValiants.com Field on Wednesday night. Junior forward Connor Normandin (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) scored a career-high five goals and assisted on the third goal from sophomore Andrew Murray (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac), the eventual game winner.

Normandin finished the game with six points, while Murray had four points on three goals and an assist. Freshman Christian Flores (Avon, Conn./Avon) also had a pair of assists for Manhattanville as well in the win.
 
The Valiants jumped out to a quick lead when Murray picked up his first goal of the season just 55 seconds into the game. Sophomore Ed Motherway (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) earned his first assist of the season on the play.
 
The Privateers quickly tied the game at one as freshman Nick Pellegrino scored his first goal of the game, and third of the season, at the 12:59 mark. Pellegrino struck again with 6:33 remaining in the quarter, this time assisting on sophomore Kevin Izzo's first goal of the season to give Maritime its first lead. Murray evened the score at two, scoring an unassisted goal with 2:33 remaining in the first quarter, but Pellegrino buried his second of the game just 22 seconds later, giving the Privateers a 3-2 lead that they would take into the second quarter.
 
Just 1:26 into the second quarter, Murray set up sophomore Connor Normandin (Stratford, Conn./Bunnell) for his first goal of the game and second goal of the year. After tying the game, Normandin scored again with less than five minutes remaining in the half, giving the Valiants a 4-3 lead.  Exactly 61 seconds later, Juius Diaz scored his first collegiate goal, tying the game at four before halftime.
 
After exchanging opportunities to start the second half, Normandin completed his hat trick, firing a shot past freshman goalkeeper Brendan McNally at the 8:44 mark. Normandin continued his personal goal-scoring streak when he extended the Valiants lead to two just 13 seconds later after Murray caused a turnover off the faceoff and fed Flores, who found Normandin wide open in front.
 
The Valiants lead was quickly cut to one when Maritime sophomore Scott Martin beat sophomore goalkeeper Zach Hoffman (Loudonville, N.Y./LaSalle Institute) just 50 seconds later. Hoffman was solid in goal for the Valiants, turning away 17 of the 24 shots he faced.
 
With time running out in the third, Flores tallied his second assist by setting up Normandin's fifth goal of the game, with 3:33 remaining to put the Valiants up by two again at 7-5. Pellegrino again provided a quick response for Maritime, completing his hat trick for the Privateersby scoring 41 seconds after Normandin's goal.
 
With just 28 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Normandin set up Murray for the Valiants' eighth goal of the game and a two-goal lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Hoffman's goaltending kept the Valiants lead at two until senior Paul Grubb scored his first goal of the season with just 3:04 remaining in the fourth quarter. Hoffman recovered nicely, making a key save with just over two minutes remaining to keep the Valiants ahead and secure the team's first victory of the season.

Maritime finished the game with a 45-27 edge in total shots, but the shots on goal disparity was much slimmer, with Maritime leading that category 24-18.
 
The Valiants have a few days to prepare for Saturday's home game against Curry College. The opening faceoff at GoValiants.com Field is set for 1:00 p.m.