PURCHASE, N.Y. – An eight-goal opening quarter set the tone for the Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team on Wednesday afternoon as the Valiants took down Delaware Valley University 16-6 in their MAC Freedom opener at GoValiants.com Field.
 
Three Valiants scored three goals in the win, led by senior Andrew Murray (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) who added two assists to his total for five points. Freshman Will Duval (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay) and senior Colin Morrissey (Shelton, Conn./St. Joseph) also scored three goals each, with Duval adding an assist as well. Senior Ed Motherway (Suffield, Conn./Suffield), junior Tyler Bentrewicz (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) and freshman T.J. Caccavo (Carlsbad, Calif./San Marcos) added two goals on the day while sophomore Tristan Green (Easton, Conn./Joel Barlow) scored once and recorded an assist for two points.
 
On the defensive end, sophomore Soya Goto (Rye, N.Y./Rye) led the team with four face off wins and Caccavo led the way with five ground balls. Despite a fairly clean game, Murray caused three Delaware Valley turnovers and Manhattanville as a team was 18-of-21 on clear attempts in the game. In the crease, senior Zach Hoffman (Loudonville, N.Y./LaSalle Institute) made 20 saves, his highest total of the season and third highest in his career.
 
The Crimson and Black scored early and often Wednesday afternoon on the home turf, netting eight goals in the opening quarter from five different attackers. Just 67 seconds in, Motherway scored his first of the day and senior Colin Morrissey (Shelton, Conn./St. Joseph) followed up a minute later making it 2-0 early. The two squads went back and forth the next few minutes, trading goals until it was 4-3 before the Valiants went on a scoring run to break the game open. Manhattanville scored the next four goals of the quarter on shots from Caccavo, Motherway, and two from Murray to take an 8-3 lead into the first break.
 
The Aggies came fighting back to begin the second, scoring three consecutive goals in the opening six minutes of the stanza to get within two before a Caccavo rocket stopped the scoring run, giving the Valiants a three-goal edge once again at 9-6. After an Aggie goal, Green responded with a goal to make it 10-7 before the halftime break.
 
The Valiants controlled a low scoring third quarter, outscoring Delaware Valley 3-1 in the frame behind two tallies by Duval to extend their lead to 13-8 with 15 minutes to play. Continuing to go back and forth in the fourth quarter, the Aggies could never get within two goals of the Valiant lead and Murray sealed the deal with his third goal of the afternoon to give the Valiants a 16-11 win in their conference opener.