PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University men's lacrosse team earned its first postseason victory since 1992 on Tuesday night as the fourth-seeded Valiants outlasted No. 5 Mount Saint Vincent 12-11 on the turf of GoValiants.com Field in the opening round of the 2026 Skyline Conference Championship Tournament. Manhattanville now advances to the Skyline semifinals on Friday to take on top-seeded Merchant Marine.
After the Valiants defeated the Dolphins 8-6 in a defensive battle down in Riverdale back on Apr. 8, Tuesday's playoff matchup looked to be headed a completely different direction early as the Valiants scored five straight goals to open the night.
Chris Marinaccio (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) began the run a touch over three minutes into the game with his fourth goal of the year before
Dylan Foley (Northport, N.Y./Northport) assisted
Tyler Berch (Syosset, N.Y./Syosset) two minutes later.
Jack Roberts (Middlefield, CT/Lyman Hall) then entered the scoring fray off an assist by Palladino ahead of unassisted tallies by
Frank Tallerico (Monroe Township, N.J./Monroe Township) and Roberts had the Valiants thriving on their home turf through the first 11 and a half minutes of play.
Mount Saint Vincent got onto the board with a pair of goals in the final minute of the quarter as the Dolphin attack came to life to close out the half.
Shea Madden (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) scored a minute into the second quarter for the Valiants with his first career tally before the Dolphins scored three straight goals to make it a one score game with 3:32 left in the half.
Jake Strobel (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) ended the run with a goal with 1:11 to play, putting the Valiants up 7-5 at halftime.
Roberts capped off his first collegiate hat trick with his third goal of the night to begin the second half 1:02 in to the new frame, scoring off a helper from Tallerico to push the Valiant lead up to a three goal cushion. The Dolphins netted the next two tallies before the Valiants got a man-up goal from Strobel via
Nick Corace (Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) and a Palladino strike set up by Roberts to reestablish the three goal led, but Mount Saint Vincent got one back to make it 10-8 entering the fourth.
Berch capitalized on a Dolphin penalty, scoring on the man advantage 2:31 into the final period. Mount Saint Vincent responded with the next two scored to make it a one-goal game again with 8:17 left to play. With the game hanging in the balance, neither team wanted to make a mistake as offensive chances shrunk significantly. The Valiants ultimately broke through the stalemate with 1:44 left in regulation as Berch scored his third of the night. It would prove to be the game-winner as the Dolphins scored just 25 seconds later. With just over a minute to play, Mount Saint Vincent turned the ball over in the offensive zone, allowing the Valiants to run out the rest of the clock to advance to the semis.
Joe Ulzheimer (Seaford, N.Y./Seaford) made 17 saves to secure the win, pushing him past 700 stops for his career. The senior becomes just the third goalie in program history to reach 700 saves, the first since Andrew Predun in 2010. Ulzheimer also led the Valiants' ground ball effort with five.
Francisco Rosas (Stratford, Conn./Stratford) and
Ryan Newman (Yonkers, N.Y./Archbishop Stepinac) fielded four ground balls each, while Palladino and Tim Beham both finished with three. Newman also paced the Valiants with three caused turnovers, while Tallerico forced a pair of Dolphin giveaways.
Up Next
The Valiants head to Kings Point on Thursday night for the Skyline Conference Championship Semifinals against No. 1 USMMA at 7 p.m.
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