PURCHASE, N.Y. – For the first time in six years, the Manhattanville University men's lacrosse team will be seeing postseason action as the Valiants clinched the final Skyline Conference Championship Tournament berth on Tuesday night with a dominating 24-7 win at Purchase College. Manhattanville now sits at 8-8 overall on the season with a 4-2 Skyline Conference mark.
The Valiants clinched just the third-ever conference tournament appearance in program history with the win, its first as a member of the Skyline Conference. Manhattanville was last in the postseason in 2018 as a member of the MAC Freedom Conference and, prior to that, only in 2004 as a member of the Knickerbocker Lacrosse Conference.
The long-awaited return to the postseason was secured appropriately enough with a full-team effort that saw 13 different Valiants score a goal en route to the team's largest margin of victory of the year.
As has been his tendency throughout the season,
Nick Cornelia (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) led the charge offensively with 10 points, scoring six goals and dishing out four assists. It was the second time this year the reigning Skyline Conference Player of the Year reached a double-digit point total after scoring 11 in the season-opener against Anna Maria all the way back on Feb. 17. Cornelia enters the final game of the regular season second in the conference in scoring with 86 points and leading the Skyline with 60 total goals.
The Valiants scored six times in the opening quarter to take a lead the team never relinquished, but most of the period's scoring came in the final three and a half minutes.
Frank Tallerico (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Township) scored on Cornelia's first assist of the night 4:20 into the game, followed by a
Drew Palladino (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) goal from
Tyler Berch (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) 3:20 later. The score held at 2-0 for close to four minutes before Palladino struck again, this time off a feed from
Jake Strobel (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains), to set off an explosive final 3:24 of the opening quarter. The Panthers got on the board with 2:50 remaining thanks to Mark Piccolino's goal, but
Sean Larkin (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) scored just five seconds later to reestablish the three-goal lead. It took just seven seconds after that for the Valiants to score again, this time with
Matt Bundy (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) finding the back of the net. The teams traded three more goals over the closing 87 seconds, with Zach Collins and Ryan Lubowitz scoring for Purchase while Cornelia got into the goal column for the first time on the night to move the score to 6-3 in favor of the Valiants through 15 minutes.
Manhattanville firmly took control with a 7-2 second quarter. After Cornelia scored his second from Palladino, Lubowitz fired a response tally for the Panthers. The Valiants rattled off the next three goals from
Michael Swift (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle), Strobel and Cornelia, with Swift collecting the assist on the latter two goals. After Piccolino got Purchase back within five with 10:25 left in the half, the Valiants closed out the second with the final three goals. Swift fired in an unassisted goal before Cornelia set up man-up tallies by
James Weinbaum (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) and Larkin, bringing the halftime score to 13-5.
After trading the first four goals of the second half, Manhattanville closed out the game on a 9-0 run over the closing 21:21.
Jarod Wilmoth (Harlem, N.Y./Cardinal Hayes) and Cornelia off an assist from Larkin accounted for the Valiants' first two goals of the third, while Shakim Carr kept pace for the Panthers. It was all Manhattanville in the second half of the quarter. Cornelia led the charge with a goal from Strobel, assisting on
Nick Corace's (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) tally, and then firing home an unassisted goal for his sixth tally of the night. Weinbaum closed out the quarter with a score from Swift to put the Valiants up 19-7.
Manhattanville scored all five goals of the fourth quarter, with
Dom Janavey (Shrub Oak, N.Y./Lakeland) and
Nick Valdivieso (Pleasantville, N.Y./Pleasantville) both scoring twice. Janavey would also pick up an assist on
Dylan Foley's (Northport, N.Y./Northport) goal with 8:46 remaining, while Valdivieso's second, and the final score of the night, came a man-down from Weinbaum.
The Valiants had three goalkeepers see action in the win.
Cody Johnston (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) made the start, logging four saves while being charged with seven goals allowed in his 48:05 in the cage to earn the win.
Mike Hopkins (Bedford, N.Y./Fox Lane) made four saves in a scoreless 6:38, while
Elijah Bell (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin) followed in suit by stopping both shots he faced in the final 5:17.
Wilmoth finished the game with a team-leading six ground balls, while Palladino and Corace followed behind with five and four grounders, respectively.
Claude Dante Cleare (Yonkers, N.Y./Saunders Trade and Technical) and
Chris Perrone (Merrick, N.Y./Calhoun) caused three turnovers each, with Palladino, Corace, Larkin, Berch and Bundy all forcing a pair of Panther giveaways.
Nick Padovani (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) won 11 of his 17 faceoffs for Manhattanville, while
Aaron Goldstein (Walden, N.Y./Valley Central) added five wins and
Michael Chris (North Caldwell, N.J./Don Bosco Prep) contributed three.
Up Next
With a postseason berth secured, the Valiants will have a chance to climb up to the No. 3 seed when the team concludes the regular season on Saturday against Maritime. Manhattanville hosts the Privateers for Senior Day at 4 p.m.
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