RIVERDALE, N.Y. – This week features two home games for Manhattan men's lacrosse at Gaelic Park.
LIU comes to Gaelic Park on Wednesday at 3 p.m., and Siena visits Gaelic on Saturday at noon; both games are on ESPN+.
Manhattan got back in the win column on Saturday with an 8-6 win at VMI to keep pace with Mount St. Mary's atop the MAAC standings. The Jaspers and Mountaineers are 5-1 in league play. Manhattan scored four goals in the fourth to come back and win. The Jaspers' defense limited the Keydets to only one goal in the second half.
The Mount and Manhattan are one game clear of LIU in the MAAC standings. Siena is part of a four-way tie for fourth.
LIU (5-6, 4-2 MAAC) is coming off a 13-9 win against Canisius on Saturday. Brad Beck scored four goals for the Sharks against the Golden Griffins and earned MAAC Offensive Player of the Week honors for his exploits. Beck shares the team lead in goals with Sean Boll with 21. Sean Gillman has started 10 of the 11 games in goal for LIU and owns a .534 save percentage and a 10.45 GAA.
Siena (5-5, 3-3) hosts Marist on ESPNU on Wednesday before coming to Gaelic Park on Saturday. Last time out, the Saints fell to Quinnipiac 14-12. Five Saints scored two goals in a balanced attack. Ryan McCarthy paces the offense with 31 points (12 goals, 19 assists). Christian Watts is the leading goal scorer for Siena with 24. Christopher Yanchoris has played every second in goal for Siena and sports a .513 save percentage and an 11.53 GAA.
Manhattan's calling card continues to be its defense. The Jaspers are the stingiest defense in the MAAC and the country, allowing 7.91 goals per game. The Green and White are the only team allowing less than eight goals per game.
The Jaspers are also inside the top 10 nationally in man-down defense and clearing percentage.
Joseph Persico leads the MAAC and Division I in GAA (7.92). Persico is the only goal with a sub-.800 GAA in the country and leads the MAAC by nearly three goals a game.
The graduate student also leads the MAAC in save percentage (.580), which is second-best in Division I.
Kyle Gucwa had three points on Saturday to extend his point streak to 41 games. The streak is the fifth-longest in the nation. Gucwa is third in the MAAC in points per game (3.55) and assists per game (1.64).
Scott O'Connor has scored in all six MAAC games so far …
Kelly DuPree has a point in four straight games …
Christian Lyons has tallied one point in nine consecutive contests … Freshman
Michael Schafer leads the team in caused turnovers (14) …
Liam McDonough wins 52-percent of his faceoffs and leads the squad in groundballs (59) …
