PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team picked up a big 10-9 victory over Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom rival Wilkes University Saturday afternoon, April 6. The victory comes on Senior Day, during which the Valiants celebrated its five graduating student-athletes during a pre-game ceremony.
 
Manhattanville (6-4, 1-1 MACF) broke through in the first minute of the game thanks to a nice shot from rookie Harrison Yoguez (Trumbull, Conn./St. Joseph (H.S.)) – his 12th of the season – and an assist from junior Will Duval (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay), who had a stellar four-point day with three assists and a score of his own. Wilkes (7-4, 1-1 MACF) scored the next two to take the lead, but the Valiants scored two of the final three in the quarter to knot it up at 3-3 – junior Nick Delia (New City, N.Y./Clarkstown South) at 8:19 and rookie Nick Lambiase (Irvington, N.Y./Irvington) with time winding down at 00:45.
 
The Valiants controlled every aspect of play in the second quarter and outscored the Colonels 3-0 to take a 6-3 lead into the half. Delia scored his second of the game and 17th of the season at 12:13, followed by Lambiase – his second on the day as well, and eighth on the year – and junior T.J. Caccavo (Carlsbad, Calif./San Marcos) at 10:54 and 9:57, respectively.
 
Wilkes entered the third quarter on fire and tied the game at 6-6 with 7:42 remaining until the fourth. Manhattanville's top scorer and game-high shots leader junior Gianni Ciffone (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) finally broke through with his only goal on the afternoon with just 1:17 remaining in the quarter to put the Valiants up one. Then, with 00:24 remaining in the quarter, Duval scored his 14th of the season, assisted by rookie Kevin Rafferty (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) via a half-field length pass to set up his teammate for the goal.
 
Trailing 8-6 entering the fourth, the Colonels scored twice in the first two minutes to tie it up at 8-8. At 5:02, Caccavo came back and scored his second of the game to put the Valiants up 9-8 for the time being before Yoguez scored his second of the game and 13th of the year for the eventual game-winner. Wilkes got one more at 2:26 but the Valiants we able to hold on as junior Jason Frezza (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Portledge) made a couple of saves in the final minute of the contest to seal the win.
 
Prior to the game, the program honored graduating seniors Soya Goto (Rye, N.Y./Rye), Brandon Neff (Phoenix, Ariz./Desert Vista), Erik Sparby (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip), Sam Hahn (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y./Briarcliff) and Tristan Green (Easton, Conn./Joel Barlow).
 
Highlights:

• The Valiants outshot the Colonels 50-36, including 26-20 in shots on goal.
• Manhattanville turned Wilkes over 27 times.
• The Valiants were 24-of-26 on clears, while the Colonels were 20-of-27.
• Delia led all players with five points, including a pair of goals and three assists.
• In addition to his four-point day, Duval also notched six ground balls and caused a turnover.
• Hahn scooped up six ground balls on his Senior Day.
• Goto finished with three caused turnovers, two ground balls and was 5-of-11 in the faceoff X.
• Frezza registered 11 saves on 20 shots Saturday for his sixth win of the season.

Manhattanville returns to the field for a Wednesday afternoon, April 10, home game versus MAC Freedom foe DeSales University. Action at GoValiants.com Field is scheduled to get underway at 4:00 p.m.