WEST HARTFORD, CONN. – The Manhattanville College men's lacrosse team suffered their first setback of the 2024 campaign on Saturday afternoon as the Valiants were defeated 12-9 at the University of Saint Joseph. The loss drops Manhattanville to 3-1 to open up the season.

A four goal performance out of Nick Cornelia (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) was not enough for the Valiants to completely fight back out of a four-score deficit at the end of the third quarter. While Manhattanville was able to pull back within one against the Blue Jays on three separate occasions, the team was unable to replicate their comeback magic that they had put on display earlier in the week against Dean.

Cornelia continued his torrid start to the season by opening the game's scoring with his 17^th goal of the season 2:22 into the game, scoring a man-up tally from Michael Swift (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle). Saint Joseph would control the rest of the quarter, scoring three times to take a lead they would protect the rest of the day. Ryan Paltauf, Evan Simnoch and Matthew Wurszt found the back of the net for the Blue Jays.

The home team's scoring run carried into the second as Nick Pestrichello put Saint Joseph up 4-1 33 seconds into the new quarter. Cornelia put the Valiants back on the board with 11:03 in the half, but the Blue Jays got goals from Luke von Borstel and Paltauf to go up by four with 5:36 before halftime. The Valiants got some momentum to close out the second as Cornelia continued to pilot the offense, this time logging a pair of assists on goals by Swift and Drew Palladino (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) to cut the deficit down to 6-4 through the opening 30 minutes. Palladino's man-up goal was his seventh score of the season.

The Valiants continued to buzz as the second half got underway as Tyler Berch's (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) man-up score from Sean Larkin (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) made it a one goal game 3:50 into the third quarter. Paltauf put an end to the Valiants' three-goal streak with his third of the game 32 seconds later, but an unassisted goal by Swift with 8:36 left in the quarter pulled Manhattanville within one again. The graduate attacker's two-goal day brings his season total to 11, the second-most on the team behind Cornelia.

With Manhattanville within striking distance, the Blue Jays closed out the third with some much-needed insurance, scoring three times in the final eight minutes. Goals from Christian Decker, Sam Barbetti and Wurszt put the home team up 10-6 entering the final quarter.

The Valiants almost replicated their incredible comeback performance from earlier in the week as Manhattanville rattled off three straight goals to begin the final quarter of play. Cornelia scored his third of the game 2:49 in before Dash Munson (Mansfield, Mass./Mansfield) scored off a Berch assists with 8:56 left to play. Just 72 seconds later, it was Cornelia again scoring via Swift for his 20^th tally of the season and bringing Manhattanville within a single goal again with 7:44 left on the clock.

Manhattanville continued to bring the pressure, with Larkin ringing the potential game-tying shot off the post before a pair of Valiant shots went off target to bring the game below six minutes. The Blue Jays called a timeout after surviving the barrage and would get an insurance goal from Evan Baden with 4:45 to play. The Valiants would be unable to match it, with Decker adding one final score with 2:23 to play to secure the 12-9 victory for Saint Joseph.

Joe Ulzheimer (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) suffered his first loss of the season in net, making 12 stops in his full 60 minutes of action. The sophomore goalkeeper holds an 11.00 goals-against average with a .500 save percentage.

Saint Joseph held a 15-10 faceoff advantage in the contest. Aaron Goldstein (Walden, N.Y./Valley Central) was the Valiants' faceoff leader on the day, winning seven draws.

Francisco Rosas (Stratford, Conn./Stratford), Matthew Newman (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) and Matt Bundy (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) each logged four ground balls to lead the Valiants. Newman also finished with a team-high three caused turnovers.

Up Next
The Valiants are back in action tomorrow, taking on Massachusetts Maritime at 2 p.m. in Buzzards Bay.

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