FARMINGDALE, NY – The Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team outscored Farmingdale State 6-2 in the second half, knocking off the Rams 10-6 on Wednesday night, improving to 2-0 for the first time since 2008.

Sophomores Will Duval (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay) and reigning MAC Freedom Offensive Player of the Week Gianni Ciffone (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) each had two goals and an assist for Manhattanville, while senior Tyler Bentrewicz (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) recorded three assists to join the three-point club; sophomore Nick Delia (New City, N.Y./Clarkstown South) added a goal and an assist for the Valiants.

Manhattanville fell behind 1-0 just 1:17 after the opening faceoff, but held the Rams without a shot on goal for the next 10 minutes. After being denied on their first four shots on goal, the Valiants grabbed the lead with two goals in 33 seconds, one from Delia and one from junior Erik Sparby (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip), carrying that lead to the second quarter.

Farmingdale State (0-1) tied the game 1:41 into the second quarter, but junior Tristan Green (Easton, Conn./Joel Barlow) answered 62 seconds later to push Manhattanville back in front. Following nearly eight minutes of scoreless play, Ciffone converted on a man-up opportunity to put Manhattanville up two, but the Rams came back with two goals in the final 90 seconds of the half, tying the game at four after 30 minutes.

After graduate student Andrew Murray (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) and the Rams' James Ragland traded goals less than two minutes apart, Ciffone added his second of the game and sophomore Ryan Leonard (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) followed up Ciffone's strike 53 seconds later, putting Manhattanville back up by two, 7-5, heading to the final quarter.

Farmingdale State's Conor McAvoy cut the deficit to one just shy of the midway point of the fourth, but Duval responded with his first of the game and sophomore T.J. Caccavo (Carlsbad, Calif./San Marcos) made it a three-goal lead 38 seconds later. Duval added his second of the game with less than three minutes to play, the final goal of the game. Dylan Fitzgerald finished with two goals and an assist and McAvoy added two goals for the Rams.

Defensively for Manhattanville, juniors Sam Hahn (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff) and Soya Goto (Rye, N.Y./Rye) and sophomore Conor Keough (East Longmeadow, Mass./Suffield) combined for 10 ground balls and four caused turnovers, while reigning MAC Freedom Defensive Player of the Week, sophomore goalie Jason Frezza (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Portledge) finished with 10 saves for the second straight game.

The Valiants welcome Western Connecticut State University to GoValiants.com Field for their home opener Tuesday at 4:00 p.m.