Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. ? The Manhattan College men's lacrosse team battled back from a 5-0 deficit to pull within one in the fourth quarter, but Mount St. Mary's (1-3, 1-0 MAAC) scored three of the final four goals to post a 12-9 victory over the Jaspers (1-4, 0-1 MAAC) in each squad's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener at Gaelic Park on Saturday afternoon. Salvatore Spatarella (Rocky Point, N.Y.) tallied four goals for Manhattan.
Mount St. Mary's scored the first five goals of the game before Manhattan finally got on the board with Spatarella's first tally at the 8:17 mark of the second quarter. James Synowiez's (Owego, N.Y.) goal cut Manhattan's deficit to 5-2 before the Mountaineers added a man-up tally at the 1:56 mark. Luke Dilillo (Lexington, Mass.) scored on a beautiful spin move to pull the Jaspers within three, 6-3, at halftime.
After a Christian Kellett goal put Mount St. Mary's up 8-4 with 5:55 left in the third quarter, Justin Jensen (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and Spatarella each found the back of the net for the Jaspers to cut the deficit to two, 8-6, after three. Anthony Golden scored to run the Mountaineers' advantage back to three goals, but Manhattan scored twice in 22 seconds to pull within one. Synowiez took a feed from Jensen and found the back of the net at the 11:03 mark, then Erich Smith (St. Louis, Mo.) raced through the Mount St. Mary's defense for the goal that made it 9-8 with 10:41 remaining.
With the Jaspers looking for the equalizer, Mount St. Mary's got an insurance tally from Brendan Harrison with 5:53 left in the game. Jonny Lefferts scored 1:29 later to bring the Mountaineers' advantage back to three goals. Manhattan won the ensuing faceoff and Spatarella charged down the field, connecting on a pass from Angelo Marrano (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) just nine seconds after the Mount St. Mary's goal. His fourth goal of the game cut Manhattan's deficit to two, 11-9, with 4:15 left. The Jaspers continued to attack the net, but Kellett's tally at the 1:47 mark ran the Mountaineers' advantage back to three goals and finished the scoring.
Spatarella collected a team-high five ground balls to go along with his four goals. Synowiez (two goals) and Jensen (one goal, one assist) each had a multi-point game for Manhattan, as well. Synowiez and Sean Firth (Glen Rock, N.J.) each added four ground balls, as the Jaspers had a 43-39 advantage on the ground. Kyle Moeller (South Setauket, N.Y.) registered three ground balls and caused four Mountaineers turnovers. John Geagan (Seaford, N.Y.) made five saves in goal.
Kellett tallied three goals and three assists for Mount St. Mary's. Golden and Lefferts each had a hat trick for the Mountaineers, while Cody Leherer registered three assists. T.C. DiBartolo picked up the win in goal after making seven saves. He also collected a team-high seven ground balls. Keith McKinley corralled six ground balls for the Mountaineers.
The Jaspers now head south for a pair of games. Manhattan takes on Presbyterian (0-6) for the first time in program history at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, then continues MAAC play with a visit to VMI (1-6, 0-1 MAAC) next Saturday at 1 p.m.
