PURCHASE, N.Y. ­– A big third quarter for the United States Merchant Marine Academy proved to be the deciding factor as Manhattanville fell to the Mariners 13-8 in non-conference action on a very cold Wednesday evening at GoValiants.com Field.
 
Merchant Marine tallied five goals in the third quarter to take command of Wednesday's contest and the deficit was too much for the Valiants to overcome in their first game in nearly two weeks due to the several inches of snow to hit the Metropolitan area last week. The Valiants were led offensively by senior Colin Morrissey (Shelton, Conn./St. Joseph) who tallied three first period goals and added an assist for four points in the game while junior Tyler Bentrewicz (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville), sophomore Erik Sparby (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip), and freshman Will Duval (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay) added multi-point games as well. Seniors Ed Motherway (Suffield, Conn./Suffield) and Andrew Murray (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) and sophomore Tristan Green (Easton, Conn./Joel Barlow) recorded one point each in the loss.
 
Between the pipes, senior Zach Hoffman (Loudonville, N.Y./LaSalle Institute) made a season-high 13 saves but fell to 2-2 in goal on the season. For the fourth consecutive game the Mariners split the goaltending duties between Dave Ossing and Zac Tilley, with each making four saves and Ossing earning his first win of the year. Merchant Marine made life difficult all night for the Valiants, dominating ground balls 38-19 and successfully clearing 85 percent (11-of-13) of their clear attempts on the night.  
 
It took no time for the Valiants to jump on top in Wednesday's contest, as Morrissey found the back of the net off a Murray assist just nine seconds after the opening faceoff. After the Mariners scored two of their own, Morrissey scored his second of the contest to level the score 2-2. The senior found the back of the net one more time in the opening frame to make it a 4-3 game at the end of the first quarter.
 
After Merchant Marine scored the first goal of the second quarter to go up by two goals, Manhattanville took the lead with three consecutive goals from Green, Duval, and Motherway to take a 6-5 lead midway through the stanza. The Mariners used a scoring run of their own as the back and forth action continued before Bentrewicz fired a shot inside the left post with four seconds remaining in the half to make it an 8-7 Mariner edge at the break.
 
Merchant Marine pulled away in the third period, scoring five goals and holding possession in their offensive end for much of the period. The Mariners tallied the first four goals of the e Merchant Marine negated the freshman's tally however and the visitors took a five-goal lead into the final quarter. The five-goal margin remained the rest of the way as neither team could find the back of the net in the final period of play and Merchant Marine held on for the 13-8 final.
 
With the loss Manhattanville drops back to .500 on the season at 2-2 while the Mariners improve to 3-1 with the victory. Manhattanville returns to action this weekend when they travel to Alvernia University Saturday for a bout with the Crusaders beginning at 4:00 pm.