PURCHASE, N.Y. – It was a thrilling Senior Night for the Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team, as the Valiants earned a 9-8 double overtime win against Skyline Conference for Mount Saint Mary on Wednesday night. With the victory, Manhattanville improves to 3-9 on the year and back up to .500 in conference play at 2-2.

It took more than 68 minutes to determine a winner, but it was fittingly senior Nick Cornelia (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) that earned Manhattanville the Senior Night win, scoring off an assist from Jesse McGrath (Walden, N.Y./Valley Central) with 1:35 remaining in the second overtime period to cap off the night's celebrations.

Wednesday night was the first time the Valiants played a double overtime contest since 2019, coincidentally against Mount Saint Mary. While the Knights were able to earn the win in that one, 10-9, the Valiants avenged that loss with the exhilarating victory in front of the home faithful.

In the defensive-dominated contest, McGrath led all scorers from both teams with a career-high seven points. The graduate student recorded his second five-goal game of the season while also dishing out a pair of assists, including the helper on the game-winner. Dillon Sanzari (Waterbury, Conn./Holy Cross (H.S.)) had a two goal effort, while in addition to his overtime tally, Cornelia had a pair of assists.

Mount Saint Mary took a 2-0 advantage at the end of the opening quarter. Brian Schneider opened up the night's scoring with 10:58 left in the period, where the 1-0 lead would hole until the closing seconds of the first. Brian Esposito would double the Knights' lead with 19 seconds to go as the Valiants had all three of their shots on goal turned away in the period.

The Knights continued to lead for most of the half before Sean Larkin (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) got the Valiants on the board with 5:26 remaining in the half off Cornelia's first assist on the night to cut the Knights' lead down to one. Still, it seemed as if Mount Saint Mary would be taking a lead into halftime, but McGrath had other plans, scoring his first off the night off a pass from Patrick Magliocchino (Thornwood, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) with 53 seconds remaining in the second quarter to make it a brand new game entering the final 30 minutes of regulation.

McGrath continued to provide the offense in the third, scoring the first two goals of the half. The Valiants took their first lead of the night with 11:52 left in the third quarter as McGrath was set up by Harrison Yoguez (Trumbull, Conn./St. Joseph). At 10:05, McGrath stuck again, this time assisted by Joey Vitta (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside), to complete his hat trick and put Manhattanville up 4-2. After Nick Gurello notched an unassisted goal for the Knights to cut the lead back down to one, it was McGrath once again scoring after an assist from Cornelia to reestablish the two goal lead.

Schneider scored for Mount Saint Mary with 1:13 to go in the third, beginning a 3-0 run for the Knights that carried over into the fourth quarter and put them back in front, 6-5. The Valiants, in turn, responded with three straight goals of their own. McGrath recorded his fifth of the night before Sanzari scored both of his goals to put Manhattanville back in front 8-6 with 6:30 to go. The advantage would be halved with 4:44 remaining on a Chris Maggio tally before Gurello fired a shot that found its way in to the net as time expired, sending the game to overtime.

The Valiants recorded a pair of shots in the initial overtime period, both coming from McGrath, but were unable to find the winner. The Knights, meanwhile, fired three shots in the initial overtime but were also unsuccessful in notching the golden goal. While Matthew Esposito was able to log the first shot of the second overtime, Jason Frezza (Lake Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Portledge) made the stop, allowing the Valiants to charge down the field the other way and set up Cornelia's game-winner.

Speaking of Frezza, the graduate netminder was credited with 12 saves in the victory, his third of the season. The Valiants collected 40 ground balls in the contest, led by six by McGrath. Melchi Agyapong (Bronx, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) added five, while the trio of Magliocchino, Kevin Rafferty (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) and Nolan Nye (Emerson, N.J./Emerson Junior-Senior) each had four. Rafferty and Nye would also lead the team with two caused turnovers each.

Up Next
The Valiants are next in action on Saturday, traveling to Saint Joseph's (Long Island) for a 3 p.m. meeting with the Golden Eagles.

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