CHICOPEE, Mass. – Two goals from senior Omar Parra (Gulfport, Miss./Gulfport) guided a dominant performance for the Manhattanville College men's soccer team as the Valiants took home their first victory of the 2016 season, 2-0 over Elms College on Thursday afternoon. 
 
For Parra it was his third multi-goal game of his career, equaling his career-high set against New York University and Medgar Evers last season. 
 
Parra gave the Valiants the lead early, converting a penalty kick in the second minute after an Elms defender was charged with a handball in the box to give Manhattanville (1-0 overall) a 1-0 lead.  Elms (0-1 overall) battled in the first half, but found themselves trailing 1-0 at the halftime break despite trailing in the shot category by just one, 8-7. 
 
"We had a great start to the game with Omar converting the penalty kick two minutes into the season.  After that Elms did well to regroup however and were actually the better team for the next 20 minutes," explained head coach Kyle Dezotell who earned the win in his Manhattanville debut.  "We began to utilize our depth and quality to control the final 60 minutes.  On another day we probably should score a few more but credit to Elms for battling and making it a very difficult game for us."
 
The Valiants were dominant in the second half however, creating several opportunities in the offensive end, earning a huge 17-2 advantage in shots for the final 45 minutes.  It was Parra again breaking away from the defense in the 80th minute, beating Blazer goalkeeper Connor Curtin inside the left post to give the Valiants the deciding 2-0 advantage.
 
Freshman goalkeeper Tim Carsting (Falun, Sweden/Soltorgsgymnasiet) recorded a clean sheet in his first collegiate appearance, stopping seven shots over the 90 minutes to earn the shutout and his first career win.  Junior Oskar Martinsson (Orust, Sweden/Uddevalla Gymnasieskola) and Parra led the Valiants with six shots apiece in the win.
 
"Anytime you win on the road it is a good day so we take home the 'W' and will look to keep getting better at training tomorrow," said Dezotell.
 
Manhattanville will have their first home contest of 2016 on Saturday when they play host to New York University at 1:00 pm.