Riverdale, NY — The Jaspers dropped Saturday's matinee match-up with Mount St. Mary's 2-1 in a grind-it-out battle at Gaelic Park. Sebastiano Musu delivered the Jaspers' lone goal from the penalty mark in the 49th minute before Graham Dougald secured the winner in the 59th minute.
Despite rocky moments early and the Mountaineers taking the lead on a goal in the 6th minute, Manhattan stayed the course on a day where they didn't bring their 'A' game offensively. The Jaspers would have liked a few chances back, including a first-half opportunity off the counter-attack that Musu put too much height on as his ball sailed over the net against Mount goalie Julian Marcos. Musu led Manhattan with 6 shots.
It looked as if the momentum would finally swing Manhattan's way after the Mountaineers over-committed in the box and took down a resilient Musu. However, Mount St. Mary's roared back with Dougald's strike that beat a diving Ludvig Malberg, and the Mountaineers were happy to sit back after that to force Manhattan's hand.
The physical affair yielded 14 fouls apiece and Malberg and Marcos each tallied 3 saves on the afternoon. After turning the ball over by allowing a Mount corner kick, Manhattan had to pay the price when Maks Czyz converted on the corner kick sent in by Luc Holden. Czyz was at the right place at the right time to open the scoring on Saturday.
Manhattan outshot the Mount, 17-11, and earned 4 more corner kicks than the Mountaineers. With the loss, Manhattan drops to 1-1 in MAAC play, capping the 2-game homestand with 3 points. Meanwhile, the Mount remains undefeated in MAAC play with 6 points.
Next Time Out
Manhattan will look to get back on track next Saturday at Saint Peter's (0-7-3, 0-2 MAAC) with kick-off slated for 2 p.m. No streaming plan has been announced for Saturday's game in Jersey City.
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