Lexington, VA (April 9, 2005)- Manhattan used a 6-2 third-quarter advantage to pull away from VMI and capture their third straight victory to begin the MAAC conference season. Senior attack Justin Otto had a huge day, posting five goals and an assist to pace the Jaspers.
Manhattan (4-4, 3-0 MAAC) took the early lead, scoring twice within the first five minutes of play. Senior attack Eugene Tanner opened the scoring with an unassisted goal while sophomore Chris Oppito added a man-up goal off an assist from Otto with 10:24 left to play.
Will Collier put the Keydets (4-5, 2-2 MAAC) on the scoreboard after taking a pass from Leo McInerney and firing it into the net with 6:18 left to play in the first quarter, closing out the scoring in the first period, in which Manhattan outshot VMI, 11-2.
Otto tallied his first goal of the day, on a feed from classmate Gerard McCloskey, to begin the scoring in the second quarter, as Manhattan jumped out to a 3-1 lead with 10:23 left in the half. After McInerney scored the first of his two goals in the quarter, sophomore Christian Schaefers took a pass from classmate Brian Murray and found the back of the net to put the Jaspers ahead, 4-2. McInerney struck again with just over a minute to play, and Manhattan held a slim 4-3 lead at intermission.
The Jaspers stormed out quickly in the second half, scoring three goals in the first 2:18 of the third quarter to gain some breathing room. Oppito opened the surge with an unassisted goal before junior midfielder Sean Crowley scored off an assist from Murray.
Those first two goals came just 32 seconds apart and would be followed by another goal when McCloskey again found Otto for the second time, putting the Jaspers ahead, 7-3, with 12:42 left to play in the third.
The teams would split the next four goals in the third quarter before Manhattan closed out the quarter's scoring with a man-up goal by Otto, his fourth on the day, with Tanner supplying the assist. The Jaspers took a 10-5 lead into the final period.
After Sean Crowley found Schaefers for his second goal of the day to put Manhattan ahead, 11-5, VMI responded with two man-up goals before Otto closed out the scoring for Manhattan, taking a feed from sophomore Jeremy Marrano for his fifth goal of the day, and his team-leading 16th goal of the season.
Sophomore Justin Henry made eight stops in goal for Manhattan, picking up his fourth win of the season and his third consecutive victory in net.
The Jaspers will return to action on Saturday, April 16, when they will host Canisius. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. at Gaelic Park.