PURCHASE, N.Y. – A dominant display by the Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team in their 2023 regular season debut featured eight different goal scorers as the Valiants toppled Anna Maria, 21-8. The Valiants will begin the year 1-0 for a second straight season following the win.

The 21 goals is the most the team had scored in a game in 18 years. The Valiants last hung 21 on the board all the way back in 2005 in a 21-14 win over Cazenovia.

After serving as the Valiants' leading scorer last season with 37 goals, Nick Cornelia's (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) graduate year picked up right her he left off in 2022. Cornelia erupted for seven goals and an assist for a total of eight points, falling one goal shy of single-handedly tying Anna Maria's score on the day. It was also a highly successful day at the office for Jesse McGrath (Walden, N.Y./Valley Central), Tyler Berch (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) and Drew Palladino (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh), all collecting at least five points in the season-opener. McGrath, who finished 2022 only behind Cornelia in assists, got an early jump start to this season's helper totals as he dished out five assists alongside a pair of goals. Berch and Palladino, meanwhile, began their rookie seasons with identical statlines of three goals and a pair of assists.

Cody Johnston (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) earned the win in the crease, the first victory of his collegiate tenure. The grad student goalie finished with 17 saves to earn his first career victory.

The AMCATS would open up the scoring 3:15 into the contest as Tommy Girard beat Johnston with a shot from Elie Charles. The Valiants would net their first of the season 77 seconds later with Cornelia's first of many serving as the equalizer. The score was the first off three straight for the Valiants as McGrath and Palladino would each add unassisted tallies to put Manhattanville up 3-1 with three minutes left in the first. The AMCATS would get one back as Brennan Fields netted a man-up score, but Berch would reestablish the two goal lead before the horn, scoring from Sean Larkin (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) with just 20 seconds left in the period as the Valiants led 4-2 at the break.

Anna Maria tied up the game with 9:49 left in the half following scored from Girard and Hank Giittines. The Valiants would string together another three goal run as Cornelia, Dash Munson (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) and McGrath all scored to retake the lead, 7-4. After another Gittines score for the AMCATS, Munson netted his second of the game at the 5:04 mark before Cornelia recorded the hat trick with a goal from Jake Strobel (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains). Corenlia scored his fourth of the half with a minute to play before Fields was able to get one back for the AMCATS with eight seconds remaining in the half. The horn would sound soon after as the Valiants held a 10-6 advantage.

The AMCATS fired the first shot in the third with a Liam Bedenkop goal to pull the road team back to within three, but the Valiants would score four unanswered goals over a 8:43 span to begin pulling away. Larkin's man-up tally from McGrath at the 12:00 mark got the run underway. Four and a half minutes later, Cornelia struck again from McGrath to move the score to 12-7. An unassisted score from Palladino and another McGrath-to-Cornelia connection with a man advantage gave the Valiants a seven goal lead with 3:17 left in the third. Anna Maria stopped the streak with the final score of the quarter from Ethan Quinn.

The Valiants would only build on their 14-8 lead over the final 15 minutes of regulation, blanking the AMCATS for the duration of the quarter while scoring seven more times. Frank Tallerico (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Township) and Berch would each score twice in the period, while Palladino, Cornelia and JP Harris (Boynton Beach, Fla./American Heritage School) closed out the game with four quarter goals.

Cornelia alongside Francisco Rosas (Stratford, Conn./Stratford) each caused a team-high two turnovers. The Valiants collected 53 ground  balls to the AMCATS' 41. Nick Padovani (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) led the effort with seven as part of his 17 faceoff wins, while Tallerico, Johnston and Jarod Wilmoth (Harlem, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) each ended with five.

Up Next
The Valiants kick off the road slate next weekend as the team heads to Scranton to take on Marywood University on Saturday at 1 p.m.

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