MADISON, N.J. – The Manhattanville University men's lacrosse team held off a late surge by FDU-Florham to pick up win number one of the 2026 campaign as the Valiants defeated the Devils 9-8 in a defensive battle. A trio of Valiants scored twice to lift Manhattanville to its first win over FDU since 2018.

Manhattanville (1-1) got a pair of goals from Frank Tallerico (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Township), Drew Palladino (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) and Nick Corace (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) to lead the attack. Tallerico has gotten his senior season off to a hot start with eight points across the Valiants' first two games, scoring four times and picking up four assists.

Michael Karabinchak (Piscataway, N.J./Saint Joseph Metuchen) scored 3:50 after the opening faceoff with his first collegiate goal to spot the Valiants an early lead. The hosts fired back 41 seconds later courtesy of Christopher Scheublin with what proved to be the final tally of the opening quarter. Neither attack generated many opportunities, with Manhattanville holding a 3-1 shot on goal advantage through the first 15 minutes of play.

The Valiants accounted for all three goals of the second quarter to gain separation at the half. Corace scored his first of the season 45 seconds in to the new frame ahead of Tallerico and Palladino's firsts of the contest. Tallerico picked up the assist on Palladino's tally, putting the Valiants up 4-1 at halftime.

The attack efforts stepped up in the second half, combining for seven goals in the third. Luke Hall got the Devils' second half scoring open with 12:49 left in the quarter before Tallerico reestablished the Valiants' three-goal advantage from Palladino two minutes later. FDU made it a one score game with two straight goals halfway through the quarter. A Corace goal from Tyler Berch (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) and freshman Chris Marinaccio's (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) first collegiate tally set up by Jake Strobel (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) pushed Manhattanville's lead back up to three with 2:29 left in the quarter. FDU got one back before the quarter ended, with Luke Dugan scoring 18 seconds after Marinaccio found the back of the net to send the contest into the fourth with the Valiants protecting a 7-5 lead.

Both teams posted their highest shot totals of the day in the fourth quarter. Berch once again put Manhattanville up by three with a man-up goal from Strobel after the Devils were called for a slashing penalty, leading 8-5 with 11:55 left in regulation. Anthony DiGiacomo got the Devils on the board in the fourth ahead of Palladino's second of the day from Dylan Foley (Northport, N.Y./Northport) to make the score 9-6 with 8:28 to play. Joseph Carbo got the Devils within two as the clock dipped below six minutes, and while a Valiant miscue led to an own goal to make it a one-goal game with 2:07 left to play, Manhattanville was able to drain the rest of the clock without any further drama to pick up the first win of the season.

Joe Ulzheimer (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made ten saves in the win, his 17^th of his career. The victory pushes him to fourth in program history for goalkeeper wins.

Francisco Rosas (Stratford, Conn./Stratford) led the Valiant defensive effort with two caused turnovers and six ground balls. In addition to his team-leading three points, Tallerico collected four grounders in the win, while Corace added three.

Manhattanville won nine of the day's 21 faceoffs, led by Chris Guazzo's (Rye, N.Y./Rye High School) 8-of-11 effort in the circle.

Up Next
The Valiants open the home slate next Saturday, hosting Massachusetts Maritime at 2:30 p.m.

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