RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Manhattan men's lacrosse team hung in early but faltered midway through the third quarter in a 17-6 loss to Denver Sunday afternoon at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in Denver, Colo.
The final of two games at the 2011 Pioneer Face-Off Classic, the Jaspers (0-5) trailed the Pioneers (3-1) 8-5 heading into the half, but were outscored 9-1 in the final two quarters to drop their fifth-straight contest.
Opening the contest with the game's first score, Manhattan senior attacker Justin Jensen gave the Jaspers a 1-0 lead on an unassisted tally with 13:31 remaining in the first quarter. He would finish the contest with a team-high two goals.
Denver would respond with three-straight goals, two by junior Alex Demopoulos, and one from classmate Mark Matthews, to make it 3-1 Pioneers with 10:58 remaining in the first. Demopoulos would tally a game-high five goals on the afternoon. Coming right back, the Jaspers cut the deficit to 3-2 at 9:51 of the first on a goal by freshman attacker Marcel Godino.
After Denver's Cameron Flint made it 4-2, Manhattan would tie the score at 4-all with 13:10 left in the second quarter after back-to-back goals from Jensen, and junior midfielder Brendan Rogers. The Pioneers would regain the lead on a man-up goal from Demopoulos at the 12:12 mark of the second. Denver added another score to their total before Jaspers sophomore midfielder Jon Crean cut the advantage to 6-5 with 11:42 remaining in half.
It was the closest Manhattan would come for the rest of the day. From that point on, Denver took control, going on an 11-1 run to finish the game in a convincing fashion in front of their home fanbase.
In the cage, Troy Orzech recorded seven saves in picking up the victory for the Pioneers. Jaspers senior goalkeeper Matt Solomito made 11 saves in his first start of the season. Overall, the Pioneers held advantages over Manhattan in shots (51-24), ground balls (49-23), face-offs (21/27-6/27), and man-up opportunities (3-5/0-0).
The Jaspers will return to action on Wednesday evening, when they head to Baltimore, Md. to take on Johns Hopkins in a contest featured on ESPNU. The opening face-off is set for 7 p.m.
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