PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team concluded the 2023 season on a rainy Saturday afternoon with a Senior Day victory over neighboring Purchase College. The win will have the Valiants end the year with a 7-9 overall record and a 3-4 mark in the Skyline, finishing the season in fifth in the conference standings.

Prior to the opening faceoff, the team honored grad student Sal DeBenedetto (Old Tappan, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan) and seniors JP Harris (Boynton Beach, Fla./American Heritage School) and Nick Padovani (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) for their contributions to the program. Fittingly, all three would contribute to the win as DeBenedetto and Harris each scored a goal while Padovani won 16-of-24 faceoffs while collecting a team-high 14 ground balls.

The Valiants opened up the rain-soaked affair with three goals across the opening 5:41. DeBenedetto fired the opening tally at the 11:21 mark before Nick Cornelia (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) got his five-goal day started with back-to-back goals, assisted by Frank Tallerico (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Township) and James Weinbaum (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac). The Valiant attack would be held silent for the remainder of the opening quarter as Purchase got two goals of their own with Joe Ely getting the Panthers on the board at the 6:10 mark while Zach Collins beat the buzzer with a goal with six seconds remaining to make it a one score game.

After Sean Larkin (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) and Zach Collins traded goals in the first 2:44 of the second, the Valiants scored four straight to close out the half. Larkin struck again by way of Dash Munson (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) before Cornelia, Tallerico and Jesse McGrath (Walden, N.Y./Valley Central) all netted unassisted tallies to put the home team up 8-3.

The run carried into the second half as Cornelia scored again just nine seconds into the third quarter from Drew Palladino (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh). Ely put an end to the string of five straight for the Valiants at the 12:42 mark. Larkin and Kevon Joseph traded goals before Palladino fired a man-up tally from Weinbaum while Cornelia scored an even-strength tally from Munson to make it a 12-5 game entering the final quarter.

Purchase scored a pair of back-to-back goals from Collins to close out his four goal performance before Harris via Cornelia and Larkin from Weinbaum reestablished the seven goal advantage. Shakim Carr netted the final tally of the game for Purchase with 5:39 to go as the Valiants celebrated Senior Day with a win in the latest iteration of the Battle of Anderson Hill Road.

DeBenedetto served as the team's leading defender in addition to his goal, causing six turnovers and collecting seven ground balls. Francisco Rosas (Stratford, Conn./Stratford) caused five Purchase turnovers of his own on the Valiant defensive unit.

In net, Joe Ulzheimer (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) concludes his rookie season with his fifth victory, stopping 11 shots in a complete game effort. The freshman netminder finishes the year with a 12.99 goals-against average and 137 saves.

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