Box Score
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Manhattan men's lacrosse team embarked on their longest road swing of the season, kicking off four straight away from Gaelic Park on Saturday. Despite holding an early lead, the Jaspers could not hold on falling 12-9 to the Providence Friars.
Both teams started the contest feeling each other out, as neither squad registered a goal in the first six minutes. Ryan Payton would get Manhattan (1-3) on the board first with a goal at the 8:46 mark. Two and a half minutes later, senior Tyler Jarvis would make a two goal advantage with his fifth goal of the season. From that point on however, the period belonged to Providence.
Robert Stack netted an unassisted goal with 5:15 to play in the frame, setting off a string of four consecutive Friar scores to take a 4-2 lead. The two teams would play to a scoreless second quarter, as Providence (3-0) would lead by two at halftime. Sophomore goalkeeper Michael Wiatrak had a lot to do with the offensive standstill as he made nine of his 18 saves in that period.
Coming out of the break, the Friars wasted little time adding to their lead as Andrew Barton scored his second goal of the game 56 seconds in. Jarvis would counter though for Manhattan, cutting the deficit to two but Providence quickly responded with two more scores. Trailing 7-3 with 7:33 left in the third, the Jaspers looked to control possession and work their way back. Payton helped in that effort as he and Andrew Hurst tallied back-to-back scores in a three minute span to make it a 7-5 deficit.
However, the Friars would not allow a comeback to happen as Sean Wright registered two straight scores making it a four goal lead once again. In the fourth quarter, Kevin Cox got his only goal of the game, while Payton registered his second straight hat trick off a feed from Brian McGrath to make it 9-7 Providence with 8:31 remaining.
The two teams would trade goals back and forth, with the Friars scoring three of the final five for the victory. Alex Grandal and Marcel Godino also scored for Manhattan, cutting the lead down to two, but the Jaspers defense could not make any late stands, allowing Providence to answer each time.
A high energy contest, Providence outshot the Jaspers 38-32 and picked up 37 ground balls to the Jaspers' 23. However, Manhattan's defense was impressive, holding the Friars to 14 of 20 on their clear attempts and 0-3 on the extra-man opportunity.
The Jaspers continue their two week long road trip as they travel to former Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) rival Mount St. Mary's on Sat., March 9, at 1 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the two schools since the MAAC Tournament semi-finals on May 7, 2010 when the Mount came away with a 10-6 victory.
