Manhattan Earns First Win In Convincing Fashion

The Jaspers improve to 1-2 while the Keydets fall to 0-1.

Manhattan had eight different players score goals with junior Parker Giarratana (Delray, FL / Boca Raton Community) leading the charge with four to go along with an assist.

The offensive output was more than enough for senior Michael Zingaro (Cortlandt Manor, NY / Walter Panas), who had 14 saves and five ground balls while surrendering just seven goals.

Sophomore Luke Hanson (Middletown, NY / Minisink Valley) opened the scoring just over four minutes into the contest on a second-chance opportunity before Giarratana found the back of the net off a Hanson pass. Freshman Justin Malpica (Glen Head, NY / Long Island Lutheran) then extended the Jasper advantage out to 3-0 with 2:04 remaining in the first period with an unassisted score.

VMI broke through with just over a minute remaining only to see Manhattan counter with goals from Giarratana and freshman Sean MacKinney (Martinsville, NJ / Bridgewater-Raritan) in opening up a 5-1 lead with just over 12 minutes to play until intermission. The Keydets were able to get one back and appeared to have swung the momentum when sophomore Brandon Grinnell (Wakefield, MA / Wakefield Memorial) lit the lamp with just 21 seconds remaining in the half despite being pushed from behind in making it a 6-2 game at the break.

Freshman Jake Nicolosi (West Islip, NY / West Islip), sophomore CJ Scharf (West Islip, NY / West Islip) and Giarratanta followed with goals to open the second half as the Jaspers jumped out to what would prove to be an insurmountable 9-3 advantage with 13:39 remaining.

VMI would trim the deficit to four on a pair of occasions but was unable to get any closer as sophomore Trevor Pelletier (Miami, FL / Gulliver Prep) put the game on ice with just over a minute remaining in providing the final 12-7 score.

Giarratana notched his fifth career four-goal performance and now has 66 career goals to go along with 26 assists. Hanson registered his first multi-goal performance of the year with two scores and an assist while Grinnell rounded out the top offensive performers with a goal and two assists.

Zingaro picked it up as the game went on, registering six of his 14 saves in the fourth period as Manhattan now leads the all-time series by an 11-4 count.

John Daniel had three goals while Ryan Perouty added two to pace VMI while Bill Osteen made 12 saves in his collegiate debut.

The Jaspers will return to action with a road match at Lafayette on Tuesday, February 20 at 7:00 pm.

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