PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's soccer team will be defending its Skyline Conference Championship crown on Saturday as the second-seeded Valiants defeated No. 6 Farmingdale in an exhilarating 2-1 overtime semifinal contest.
Jostyn Blanco (Norwalk, Conn./Brien Mcmahon High School) punched Manhattanville's ticket back to the title match by delivering the golden goal 3:46 into the opening overtime period. With the Valiants driving toward the net, Ram goalkeeper Rocco Dispinseri was assessed a yellow for a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity on
Mason Chetti (Ronkonoma, N.Y./Connetquot). The Valiants were awarded a penalty kick opportunity and sent Blanco to the line with the game on his foot.
Already 2-for-2 on the year in penalty chances, Blanco buried the ball into the lower right corner of the net, sending the Manhattanville crowd into a frenzy as the Valiants marked their return to the finals for a second year in a row and the third time in the last four seasons.
As was the case throughout the duration of last year's postseason run, the Valiants found themselves trailing in Wednesday night's contest. After more than 71 scoreless minutes, the Rams finally broke through with Jean Mejia's goal by way of Jose Mejia with under 19 minutes remaining on the clock.
Manhattanville controlled a majority of the possession prior to the goal and did not deviate away from their strategy despite finding themselves down. As the clock ticked down to under eight minutes to play, a Ram defender got his cleat on a shot attempt that sent the ball into the sky.
Alec Pineda (Port Chester, N.Y./Port Chester) camped himself under the ball and headed it into the top left corner just under the crossbar to even the score.
With new life, the Valiants fired four more shot attempts in the final seven minutes of regulation. While nothing would come of the late flurry, Blanco took care of business with the lone shot attempt for either side in the overtime period.
Manhattanville outshot Farmingdale 25-11 on the night, holding a 10-5 shots on goal discrepancy. Blanco finished with a team-leading six total shots, with Pineda and
Johnny Antolino (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) each taking three. Chetti and
Joseph Kresse (Goshen, NY/Goshen High School) were the lone Valiants to finish with multiple shots on goal, each logging a pair.
Luis Granados (Pasadena, Calif./St. Francis) picked up the win, making four saves with the lone goal allowed. Manhattanville's all-time wins leader secured his 10
th victory of the year and dropped his goals-against average on the season to 1.65 heading into Saturday's championship.
Up Next
The top two seeds will meet on Saturday for a championship. With No. 1 Saint Joseph's Long Island winning 1-0 over No. 4 Saint Joseph's Brooklyn in the other half of semifinal action, the Golden Eagles will play host to the contest at Danzi Stadium. Game time and ticket information will be available later this week on
www.govaliants.com.
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