RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Junior
Omar Parra (Gulfport, Miss./Gulfport) scored a career-high two goals to lead the Manhattanville College men's soccer team to its first victory of the season against the Violets of New York University on Saturday afternoon by a 3-1 score.
The Valiants offense got started early Saturday, when junior
Jesper Hjalm (Stockholm, Sweden/Huddingegymnasiet) found space for the game's first shot just 57 seconds into the contest. Manhattanville kept the pressure on, with shots from sophomore
Robin Schaufele (Kalix, Sweden/Kungsfaegeln) and Parra in the first ten minutes. The Valiant offense broke through in the 15th minute, when Schaufele and Parra broke free for a two-on-one opportunity, with Schaufele finding Parra on the left post for the game's first goal. Manhattanville kept applying the pressure on offense for the remainder of the first half but were unable to find the back of the net and took a 1-0 lead into the break.
The Violets looked to turn the momentum in their favor at the start of the second half, finding space for four shots in the first 12 minutes. The Valiants responded however, working the ball downfield and earning a corner in the 64th minute. Shots from Parra and junior
Simon Espinosa (Boca Raton, Fla./Spanish River) were turned away by Violet goalkeeper Lucas Doucette before Schaufele took a pass from sophomore
Jefferson Santos (Pelham, N.Y./Pelham Memorial) and fired a shot inside the left post to give the Valiants a two goal cushion.
Manhattanville was able to put the Violets out of reach for good in the 83rd minute when Parra took another pass from Schaufele and fired a shot into the upper-right corner of the goal to give the Valiants a 3-0 lead. With the goal, Parra tallied his first multiple-goal game in 26 carreer appearances.
"Omar took his chances really well today and demonstrated the ability that we all knew he possessed," said head coach
Gregg Miller.
Senior goalkeeper
Willie Silber (Holbrook, N.Y./Sachem East) was solid throughout the afternoon, making four saves, allowing the lone Violet goal in the 89th minute when Bryan Walsh headed in a cross from Malcolm Montilus.
"We had a good overall performance today, especially in the attacking third of the field," said Miller. "NYU is a very good team and we had to work hard for the win but overall I believe we deserved the result that we got."
The Valiants return home on Wednesday, September 9 when they play host to Vassar College in their home opener. Kickoff is set for 6:00 P.M. at GoValiants.com field.
