Delray Beach, FL (March 13, 2005)- After falling behind 13-6 midway through the third quarter, the Jaspers unleashed a late rally, holding Sacred Heart scoreless over the final 22 minutes of the game and scoring six unanswered goals, but the Jaspers could not tally the equalizer and dropped a 13-12 decision to the Pioneers this afternoon at Atlantic Community High School.
Manhattan (1-3) struck first when Sean Crowley took a feed from Eugene Tanner and scored at the 12:32 mark. The Pioneers wasted little time in answering when senior Blake Reardon won the draw and sophomore Casey Kirch scooped up the ground ball and scored on the break away 10 second later.
After Greg Lewis scored on a pass from Ed Kinley to put Manhattan ahead 2-1, the Pioneers (3-1) tacked on three goals in the closing minutes to give Sacred Heart a 4-2 lead after the first 15 minutes.
Sacred Heart extended the lead to 5-2 just 16 seconds into the second quarter, but Manhattan stormed back with four straight goals. Brian Murray scored back-to-back goals within 30 seconds of each other to get the Jaspers within a goal at 5-4, then Tanner found the back of the net just eight seconds later to tie the game at five. Tanner then set up Nick Crowley to give Manhattan a 6-5 lead at the 9:06 mark.
The Pioneers tied it up less than a minute later on the man-up offense and jumped in the lead with 1:42 to go when Matthew Robideau scored an unassisted tally, giving the Pioneers a 7-6 lead at the half.
After Sacred Heart scored six times in the third quarter to take a 13-6 lead with 7:40 to play, the Pioneers were held without a goal the rest of the way, enabling Manhattan to battle back into the game.
The Jaspers got on the board in the second half with a marker by sophomore Chris Oppito with 5:36 remaining in the quarter, followed by the second goal of the day by Sean Crowley to close the quarter down 13-8.
Murray started the scoring in the fourth with his third goal of the afternoon coming at the 13:56 mark. Freshman Jonathan Chambers followed that goal with his first collegiate tally, and his first of two goals in the quarter. Lewis then got Manhattan within two (13-11) with a score at 7:29 and Chambers struck again at 3:17 to slice the lead to 13-12. Manhattan had a chance to tie, taking the face-off, but turned the ball over on what was their last offensive possession. The Pioneers successfully cleared the ball and then killed off close to three minutes to earn the win.
For Manhattan, Tanner scored once and passed out a game-high four assists. With those four assists, the senior, who is the career leader at Manhattan in points (162), is now tied with Nick Silva '03 for most career assists with 74 all-time.
Murray scored three times with an assist while Sean Crowley, Lewis, and Chambers each found the back of the net twice. Sophomore Justin Henry made 11 saves in net for the Jaspers.
Manhattan will return to action on Saturday, March 19, against Delaware in Newark, DE. Game time is slated for 2:00 p.m.