Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Brian McGrath scored three goals and added an assist as the Manhattan men's lacrosse team picked up an 8-6 win over Detroit Saturday afternoon at Gaelic Park. The victory was the third in four games for the Jaspers who improved to 4-5, 1-1 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play. It also snapped a three game win streak for the Titans who fell to 5-5, 2-1 in the MAAC.
What began as a very low scoring affair saw the University of Detroit Mercy jump out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Brandon Beauregard and Shayne Adams. With less than a minute left in the first quarter, Brett Madarasz took a pass into the middle of the field and fired a shot past A.J. Levell to get the Jaspers on the board.
Manhattan would hold Detroit scoreless for the entire second period, but would find an equalizer when a wayward pass found the stick of Paul Moreau who was able to beat Levell five-hole with 1:45 remaining in the half. With the score knotted going into the second half, UDM would again score first as Adams notched his second goal of the game.
The Jaspers would then reel off four unanswered goals coming from Moreau along with Brian McGrath, Tyler Jarvis and Ryan Payton. The scores from Jarvis and Payton would be on the extra man opportunity as Manhattan was 2-6 on the man-up.
Leading 6-3, Detroit fought back with a Scott Drummond goal to finish the third quarter. The Titans added another from Tom Masterson to cut the lead to one with 8:39 remaining in the fourth period. McGrath would then score two consecutive goals to push Manhattan back up by three. Adams finished off his hat trick late in the game but it wasn't enough to complete a comeback.
Defensively, Rich Akapnitis (3-2) was stalwart in net tying his career high in saves with 19 while also picking up a game high 11 ground balls. Midfielder Alex Grandal also caused three of the nine turnovers forced by the Jaspers. Manhattan was outshot 43-33 but picked up six more ground balls than Detroit (48-42) and were successful in 19 of 24 clear attempts.
Freshman Brian Lenskold helped to keep the Jaspers with possession winning 12 of 18 face-offs. For UDM, Levell made a total of 13 saves in the loss
Manhattan continues its season long three game home stand with an out of conference game against Wagner on Tues., April 3 at 7 p.m. at Gaelic Park.
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