RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Goals from seven players and stout defense lifted Manhattan to a 9-7 win over Sacred Heart in MAAC play on Saturday.
Manhattan (5-2, 2-0 MAAC) never trailed in the game and limited Sacred Heart (0-7, 0-2) to only 13 shots on goal and 25 total attempts on the afternoon.
"I liked the way we competed today. I thought our guys played hard. The execution at times needed to be a little sharper, but I thought we created our luck in many ways today. I thought we did an excellent job of playing our way on our field," said head coach
John Odierna.
Liam Walshe and
Quinn Bowler scored twice for the Jaspers. After nine minutes, the duo scored the first two goals of the game for Manhattan to give the Jaspers a 2-0 lead. Walshe added his second in the third quarter, which gave Manhattan a 7-4 lead heading into the fourth.
Bowler's second tally came with a man-up when the sophomore put home a feed from
Kyle Gucwa to make it 9-5 Jaspers.
Matthew Scully and
Liam Peabody picked up their first goals of the season on Saturday. Scully opened the scoring in the third on a transition opportunity, and Peabody picked up his first when he got inside the Pioneers' defense and put home the first of his career.
"It is awesome," said Odierna when asked about the balanced scoring. "I think everyone knows about Kyle and Liam. We have challenged some guys to step up and get going scoring-wise and they have responded. It was awesome to see Liam score his first career goal. It was great to see many guys involved; that makes it harder to play against us if we have more guys who can do damage."
Scott O'Connor,
Dan MacKinney, and Gucwa also found the back of the net for Manhattan.
Sacred Heart had a balanced attack, too, on Saturday. Four Pioneers had two points. The Pioneers got back within one at 2-1 and 3-2 in the first half but didn't get any closer than two once O'Connor made it 4-2 with 2:37 remaining before halftime.
Odierna added, "Another guy I want to mention is
Sean Baudille. He deserves a lot of credit for coming off the bench at the faceoff and moving the needle for us." Baudille finished 8-14 on faceoffs.
Joseph Persico lowered his goals-against average on Saturday after allowing only seven shots to get past him. Persico owns an 8.15 GAA for the season.
The Jaspers continue MAAC play next Saturday against Canisius at noon at Gaelic Park.
For the latest on the Manhattan College men's lacrosse program, follow the Jaspers on Twitter @ManhattanMLAX and Instagram @Manhattan_Lacrosse.
