PURCHASE, N.Y. – On a beautiful, sunny spring day at GoValiants.com Field the Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team was defeated by United States Merchant Marine Academy, 16-11. With the loss, the Valiants fall to 4-7 overall on the season and 0-2 in conference play.
The first quarter would showcase an offensive explosion from both the Valiants and Mariners. USMMA would get on the board first with a goal from Jack Collins, dished out by William Badeer only a minute and a half into the game.
Sean Larkin (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) would respond with one of his own to tie it up, 1-1 with 11:41 remaining in the quarter. The Mariners' Owen Barcus would then score back-to-back goals to take a 3-1 lead. The Valiants would not back down as the defensive pressure increased.
Nick Cornelia (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) would get his first goal of the game, assisted by
Drew Palladino (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) while
Jesse McGrath (Walden, N.Y./Valley Central) would fire one off as well and tie it back up, 3-3. With only two minutes left, Badeer and Jack DeTommaso would each score a goal for USMMA and go up, 5-3. With the clock running down, DeTommaso would fire at the net and score another on a man-up for a 6-3 lead heading into the second quarter.
Less than two minutes into the quarter, DeTommaso would get his third goal of the day and increase the Mariners' lead to 7-3. Barcus would then follow up with another for USMMA before Cornelia would bring it back within four for the Valiants, only down 8-4. With 5:30 remaining in the half, Michael Emerick would get a dish from Barcus on the man-up to increase their lead. Manhattanville would respond right after with another goal from Cornelia as Larkin is awarded with the assist for a 9-5 game. Cornelia would continue a dominant offensive performance with another goal heading into halftime for a 9-6 USMMA lead.
To start the second half, the Mariners would have back-to-back goals from Barcus within the first two minutes of play. USMMA's leading scorer Carter Hall would then follow up with his own back-to-back scores before
Tyler Berch (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) responded shortly after with his first goal of the night for the Valiants before McGrath would bring it back within five for a 13-8 score. With 4:37 left in the third quarter, the Mariners would get back on the board with another Barcus goal to keep their lengthy 14-8 lead heading into the final quarter of regulation.
The Valiants would score early as Larkin would get his second goal of the night to bring it back within five of the Mariners, as they would respond with yet another goal from Barcus. Both teams would go scoreless through seven minutes of play before Collins would get another on the board for a 16-9 USMMA lead with only 5:42 left in regulation. McGrath would respond a minute later with a goal dished from Berch followed by
Dash Munson's (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) first goal of the night to bring it within five for the Valiants. USMMA would win with a 16-11 final score.
In net, Skyline Rookie of the Week
Joe Ulzheimer (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) would play the full 60 minutes while making 21 saves and only allowing 16 goals. He currently sits with a 14.07 goals-against average and a .534 save percentage.
Merchant Marine dominated offensively with 56 shots to Manhattanville's 28.
Nick Padovani (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) won 13 faceoffs while grabbing a team-high seven ground balls. Fransisco Rosas would grab six, while Cornelia, Larkin, and
Sal DeBenedetto (Old Tappan, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan) had four each to add to the team's totals.
Matt Bundy (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) would tally a team-high three caused turnovers as
Mike Mooney (Tappan, N.Y./Tappan Zee), Padovani, and Rosas would each cause two in the loss.
The Valiants will continue conference play and hit the road to take on Mount Saint Mary College on Sunday, Apr. 12 at 12 p.m.
