RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Manhattan men's lacrosse team dropped a 13-0 decision at Lehigh in their season opener on Saturday. Sophomore goalkeeper Rich Akapnitis made 18 saves in the loss as the Jaspers fall to 0-1 on the season.
Lehigh began the game scoring three goals in the first quarter, including two in the final 2:30 seconds of the frame. The Jaspers defense would hold strong in the second period giving up just one goal, but their offense could not find an edge and sent Manhattan in to halftime trailing at 4-0.
The Mountain Hawks came out of the break and put up five more goals, two from David DiMaria, to go up 9-0 after three periods. DiMaria led Lehigh in scoring with four points, including three goals, to go along with Patrick Corbett's hattrick. Mountain Hawks Dan Taylor and Matt Smith also notched two tallies in the contest.
Manhattan's offense struggled with their opportunities as they took a combined eight shots, with both Matt Thistle and Jon Crean firing two a piece. Junior Jon Crean performed valiantly in his season debut winning six of nine faceoffs while also picking up three groundballs.
As a team, the Jaspers were outshot 47 to 8 as Lehigh registered double-digit attempts in each quarter. Manhattan also turned the ball over 26 times and picked up just 20 groundballs while the Mountain Hawks scooped up 42 and converted just 12 turnovers.
The Jaspers were 50% in their clear attempts (11 for 22) while Lehigh was 19-20. At the faceoff X Manhattan won seven of the sixteen total in the game. The 18 saves were a career high for Akapnitis (0-1) who played in all 60 minutes. Lehigh's Matthew Pillion improved to 2-1 on the season making four saves.
The Jaspers will be back in action on Tuesday, February 28, when they travel to #19/#14 Princeton at 4:00 p.m. in New Jersey.
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