PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville men's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season to Vassar College on Saturday afternoon by the score of 7-4 on on GoValiants.com Field. Junior Will Sahakian (Natick, Mass./Rivers School) led the Valiants with two second-half goals on the afternoon.
The Valiants started off the game by winning the opening draw, but the Valiants turned the ball over on their first offensive possession and allowed Vassar to take over but the Brewers gave it right back. Manhattanville committed another turnover and this time Vassar took advantage scoring just 1:38 into the opening period.
Aside from the first Vassar goal both teams struggled to get the ball on net, taking multiple shots each that went wide. Valiant midfielder Joe Daly (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) registered the first on-target shot of the afternoon that was stopped by Vassar sophomore Andrew Nicol. As time continued to tick away in the first quarter, Christopher Toffoli netted the Brewers' second goal of the game with less than five minutes remaining.
Vassar scored once more in the period as Toffoli rattled the net once again, this time with 22 seconds remaining in the opening quarter. Manhattanville was shut out in the period, and was also beat in terms of shots by a 9-7 margin.
In the second quarter Vassar continued to pour on the shots, getting the first four of the period with Manhattanville junior Dom Poletto (Engelwood, Colo./Regis Jesuit) forced to make the save on just one as the other three went wide.
It wasn't until 3:28 was left in the period that the Valiants got on the board when sophomore Jeb Miller (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) netted his first of the game and second of the season to trim the lead to 3-1. However, less than 30 seconds later the Brewers got their three-goal lead back at 4-1 and took that edge into the halftime break.
After the intermission it wasn't long before Vassar opened up their lead to four, scoring just 1:09 into the half as Toffoli scored his third for the hat trick. The reigning Freedom Conference Player of the Week, sophomore Brian D'Iorio (Huntington, N.Y./Saint Anthony's), got on the board at the 11:52 mark with an assist from freshman Connor Castleman (Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood) for the freshman's first collegiate point. Under two minutes later, the Valiants closed the gap some more as Sahakian added his first goal of the game to pull within two.
Just as it seemed Manhattanville was within striking range, the Brewers pulled back away, scoring at the 8:08 mark of the third as they regained their three-goal advantage. For the remaining eight minutes of the quarter, both teams got sloppy and turned the ball over a combined 10 times heading into the fourth stanza.
In the fourth Manhattanville took a penalty just 3:27 into period and gave Vassar a man-up situation which they capitalized on with just four seconds remaining to bump the lead up to 7-3.
The teams once again failed to control the ball over the ensuing minutes, resulting in multiple turnovers for both sides. But after a Vassar turnover with 3:28 to go in regulation, Sahakian took a pass from sophomore Brenan Kuntz and sent it past Nicol for his second of the game.
Manhattanville tried desperately to get back into the game, but Vassar controlled possession for the final three minutes with the exception of a shot taken by Miller that was saved by Nicol. The final seconds ticked off the clock and the Valiants suffered their first loss of the young 2012 campaign.
In terms of shots, the Valiants were close with a 34-32 disadvantage due in large part to their big third quarter that saw them outshoot their guests by a 12-5 margin. Ground balls in the contest were even at 40 apiece as Manhattanville was led by Miller (eight), Daly (six) and Poletto (five) in the crease for the Valiants.
Poletto also took the loss to fall to 1-1 on the season, allowing all seven Vassar tallies while stopping 11 shots. On the opposite side of the field, Nicol was forced to make 13 stops and in the process yielded Manhattanville's four goals.
The Valiants (1-1) won't play again until next Saturday when they travel to Levittown, N.Y., to play a neutral site night game against Plattsburgh at Division Avenue High School with the opening faceoff set for 7:00 p.m. Vassar (2-0) will continue their season-opening four-game trip when they travel next to Farmingdale on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.