West Haven, CT (March 26, 2005)- Sophomore Jeremy Marrano scored the game-winning goal with 4:27 to play as Manhattan completed a come-from-behind 7-6 victory in its MAAC opener against Siena this afternoon. Down 5-2 with 2:46 left in the third quarter, senior Justin Otto scored the first of his two goals on the day and the Jaspers scored four straight before Siena tied it at six, setting up Marrano's game-winner.
Manhattan (2-4, 1-0) got on the board first when sophomore Christian Schaefers scored just 22 seconds into the game on his first goal of the season. The Saints (0-5, 0-2 MAAC) responded with a pair of goals later in the quarter, including a man-up goal by Philip Ferrara to move ahead 2-1 with 3:10 remaining. Schaefers struck again with 21 seconds left in the quarter, on a feed from Otto on a man-up opportunity. However, Siena quickly regained the momentum when Greg Powell found the back of the net with just five seconds left in the quarter to give the Saints a 3-2 edge after the first 15 minutes.
A pair of goals by Siena's Ted Moran proved to be the only scoring in the second quarter as Manhattan's offense was held at bay until the end of the third quarter.
Otto's tally with 2:46 remaining in the third cut the Saints' lead to 5-3. With just nine seconds remaining in the quarter, sophomore Chris Oppito broke loose, and ripped a point-blank shot past Siena goalie David Jalette to bring Manhattan with one with 15 minutes to play.
The Jaspers seized the opportunity and quickly knotted the game at five just over a minute into the fourth quarter. With 13:59 to play, junior Nick Crowley found the back of the net, and just over two minutes later, Otto scored his second goal of the day on a nice feed from classmate Eugene Tanner to give the Jaspers their first lead since it was 1-0 early in the game. The Saints tied it again, however, with 7:22 left, on Christopher Padden's lone goal of the day. But Manhattan would not be denied, as Marrano's unassisted tally put the Jaspers ahead and was enough to secure the win in their MAAC opener.
Sophomore Justin Henry had 11 saves in net for Manhattan, while Jalette stopped seven shots in goal for Siena.
Manhattan will return to action on Saturday, April 2, when they will travel to Poughkeepsie, NY to take on Marist. Game time is 7:00 p.m.