RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Sophomore goalkeeper Rich Akapnitis made a career high 19 saves, including one with less that five seconds remaining, to help the Manhattan men's lacrosse team to an 11-10 victory over Binghamton at Gaelic Park on Saturday. The win was the second in a row for the Jaspers (3-4) who are a perfect 2-0 at home this season.
The Bearcats (2-4) would get on the board first with a goal from Michael Antinozzi at the 13:07 mark of the first quarter but their lead would be short lived. Junior midfielder Tyler Jarvis scored the first of his three goals on an assist from freshman Kevin Cox to knot the contest up at one a piece.
Manhattan would jump in front on a tally from Brett Madarasz before Anitnozzi struck a second time tying it again with 4:28 left in the first. The Jaspers would then score three consecutive goals, including on in the second period, to take a 5-2 advantage. However, Frank Gluchowski scored ten seconds later to get Binghamton back on the board, triggering four straight Bearcat goals.
Trailing 5-6 with less than eight minutes remaining in the half, Mike Chilvers found fellow freshman Andrew Hurst who ripped a shot past Jordan Marra to pull Manhattan even with 6:48 remaining. Senior Jonathan Bourne had one of the better offensive games of his career scoring three times, including giving the Jaspers a 7-6 lead with 2:04 to play in the second quarter.
In the second half, the defenses would dictate pace as the scoring slowed down for each team. Alex Grandal was called for a cross-check at 10:29 in the third giving Binghamton a man-up opportunity. The Bearcats would take advantage when Paul O'Donnell scored his only goal of the game to tie the game up at 7-7.
The two teams would trade the next seven goals going back and forth with Manhattan getting tallies from Bourne, Ryan Payton and two from Jarvis to take an 11-10 lead with 4:07 to play in the fourth quarter. The Jaspers would attempt to drain the clock the rest of the way holding in the offensive end.
With under a minute to play, Bearcats keeper Marra forced a turnover from Grandal and began a last dash for an equalizer. Binghamton called a timeout with 0:22 remaining and drew up an offensive series. Antinozzi, who had a game high four goals, whistled a shot wide of the cage with eight seconds left. The Bearcats had a final possession and J.T. Hauck found his way to the net and rifled a shot that was saved away by Akapnitis as the clock ran out, preserving the win.
For Akapnitis (2-3) his career high 19 saves surpassed his total of 18 he had in an opening day loss to Lehigh. The sophomore also picked up a game high eight ground balls. Jordan Marra made 10 saves for the Bearcats and picked up five ground balls in the loss.
Offensively, the Jaspers were led by Bourne's four points (three goals and one assist) as well as Jarvis' hat trick. Seven different players scored for Manhattan while ten registered points. Binghamton was paced by Antinozzi's four goals and Tyler Perrelle's four points (two goals and two assists).
As a team, Manhattan was outshot by Binghamton 42-41, but did corral more ground balls (43 to 36) and completed 22 of 26 clear attempts while the Bearcats were 16-18 in their tries. Freshman Brian Lenskold was 9-22 at the face off while Binghamton won 14 of the 25 total and forced 23 turnovers while turning it over just 19 times themselves.
The Jaspers now enter conference play when the travel to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) rival Canisius for an 11:00 a.m. tilt on Sat., March 24, with the Golden Griffs.
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