PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team won its home opener today, Feb. 29, against Marywood University. The Valiants and Pacers were neck and neck all game until senior Ryan Leonard (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) pulled the team ahead by one in the final five minutes. Leonard's goal enabled the Valiants to defeat Marywood 12-11.
 
The Valiants (1,1) were the first on the board after senior Will Duval (Granite Bay, Calif./Granite Bay) crease rolled and put the ball past the Pacers (1-4). Senior Nick Delia (New City, N.Y./Clarkstown South) added another point to the scoreboard after he grabbed a ground ball off of a Valiant's saved shot and put another goal past Marywood. As the score was tied at two apiece, freshman Stephen Magarelli (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Lakeland Senior) blocked Pacer Matt Potter's pass, then grabbed the ground ball and scored his first collegiate goal. Magarelli scored a hat trick by the end of the game, two of his goals came in the first half and one was in the third quarter. Sophomore Nick Lambiase (Irvington, N.Y./Irvington) scored his first goal of the season to close out the first quarter 4-3 in Manhattanville's favor.
 
Duval led the Valiants in points and assists today notching five and three respectively. He assisted the only two goals Manhattanville put up in the second quarter. The Crimson and White ended up trailing the Pacers in the third by two. Magarelli cut the deficit to one as he scored his third goal of the game.  After his goal, senior Ty Arnone (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Our Lady of Lourdes) won the face off and then brought the ball down field. Arnone's won face off led to senior Ty Caccavo (Carlsbad, Calif./San Marcos) tying the score at eight.
 
To put Manhattanville up by two, Duval intercepted goalie Connor Reed's clear attempt. Duval then ran to ball to the cage and scored his second goal of the game. After Manhattanville took the lead, Marywood scored two back-to-back goals to tie the game at 11.
 
Junior Simon Boisvert (Pointe Claire, Que./Millbrook School) started the sequence in the final minutes to secure the game for the Valiants. He picked up the ground ball after the Pacers shot wide and then cleared the ball up field. It led to Delia feeding senior Ryan Leonard (Wayne, N.J./Wayne Valley) on the game winning goal.
 
Next, Arnone won the face off to keep the game in Manhattanville's favor. After a wide shot by the Valiants the Pacers had one more scoring opportunity to send the game into overtime. However, Senior Conor Keough (East Longmeadow, Mass./Suffield) caused a turnover to eliminated Marywood's final scoring opportunity.  
 
The Crimson and White will next host Neumann University this Wednesday, Mar. 4, at 4:00 p.m. on Govaliants.com Field. Neumann has won the last three meeting between the two programs and the Valiants will try to turn their streak around.