CENTER VALLEY, PA – Despite six points from sophomore Will Duval (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay) and a plus-11 shot advantage, the Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team dropped a MAC Freedom matchup to DeSales University Wednesday afternoon by a score of 12-7.

Duval scored two goals and added four assists for Manhattanville (7-8, 2-4 MACF) for his third six-point effort in his last five games; classmate Gianni Ciffone (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) and junior Erik Sparby (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip) added two goals apiece, while junior Tristan Green (Easton, Conn./Joel Barlow) added a goal for the Valiants. Joe Neggia added a game-high five goals for DeSales (5-9, 2-4 MACF), while Zach Bowen and Matt Motto both added hat tricks.

Ciffone struck first for Manhattanville off a feed from Duval at 12:17, but that was Manhattanville's lone goal of the first quarter as the Bulldogs scored four straight, including one at the final horn of the quarter.

The Bulldogs added another goal at 13:39 to take a 5-1 lead before the Duval-Ciffone connection struck a second time at 12:29 to cut the Manhattanville deficit to three. Another three unanswered goals, including two from Neggia, gave DeSales a six-goal lead before Duval struck with 51 seconds left for the final goal of the half.

After nearly eight scoreless minutes to open the second half, Sparby and Green struck at 7:21 and 6:02, bringing Manhattanville back within three, but Bowen and Neggia answered for the final goals of the quarter as the home team carried a five-goal edge to the final quarter.

Duval and Sparby alternated goals with Motto and Neggia over the final 15 minutes as the Valiants, despite outshooting DeSales 26-14 in the second half, drew no closer than four over the final 19+ minutes.

The Valiants wrap up the 2018 regular season on Saturday on the road against Delaware Valley. Opening face-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.