LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Trailing by only one goal heading into the fourth quarter, the Manhattan men's lacrosse team was unable to mount a comeback falling 11-8 to Siena on Saturday afternoon in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play. It was the second straight loss for the Jaspers (2-8, 0-2 MAAC) who started a three game road swing against the Saints (3-7, 1-1 MAAC).
After being held scoreless in the first quarter and trailing 2-0, junior transfer Patrick Hodapp put the team on his back and notched two goals in just 59 seconds to tie things up. However, Colin Clive then matched the individual run to put the Saints back up 4-2 with 9:24 to play until halftime. A Levi Radbourne goal cut the deficit to one before Richie Hurley got his second of the game for Siena, regaining the two goal edge. The Jaspers would regain some momentum heading into the break as Marcel Godino scored with 1:26 remaining to bring his team within one.
In the second half, Hodapp used a pass from Brett Madarasz to tie the game at 5-5 for his team best third goal. The game then went back and forth with Siena scoring three of the next five goals. Senior Tyler Jarvis got his only goal of the game to knot the score at 6-6 before Danny Martinsen and Nate Barry registered two quick tallies for the Saints to lead 8-6. Again, Manhattan would find some late time momentum as Ryan Payton scored with 14 seconds left in the third.
However, the Saints would lock down defensively holding Manhattan scoreless for almost the entire fourth quarter while adding three goals of their own to lead 11-7. The Jaspers lone score in the period came with just 25 seconds on the clock when Brian McGrath finished a Godino pass. Manhattan was able to protect the ball well turning it over just 13 times while forcing 16 from their opponent. They were also 15-16 on clear attempts as their transition defense held the Saints to just 15-20 on their tries.
Siena did succeed on loose ball situations, corralling 40 ground balls to the Jaspers 31 and winning 16 of 23 face offs. They also were a perfect 2-2 on extra-man opportunities while Manhattan was 2-3. The Saints also outshot Manhattan 41 to 32 as Clive led all players with four goals.
Making his second straight start in goal, junior Rich Akapnitis (0-2) made 11 saves and picked up two ground balls for the Jaspers. Matt Sharp also made 11 stops in net for Siena, five in the fourth quarter, and pulled in a game high seven ground balls.
The Jaspers will return to action on Tue., April 2 when they go out of conference to take on Wagner at 3 p.m. in Staten Island.