Buffalo, NY - Manhattan (4-8; 0-4 MAAC) hits the road the final time this regular season at Canisius (5-7; 2-2 MAAC) on Friday, April 20 with opening faceoff tabbed for 4:00 pm.
MANHATTAN LAUNCHES GAELIC PARK ATHLETIC CENTER PROJECT
In order to make an investment in the future of varsity sports at Manhattan College, the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is launching a campaign to raise funds to upgrade athletic facilities that support teams that compete at Gaelic Park. The Gaelic Park Athletic Center project, known as GPAC, will enhance the student-athlete experience for five of Manhattan's outdoor sports, including men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, and softball. The GPAC project will include the installation of sport-specific locker rooms for varsity teams that currently do not have a space of their own. The athletic department will also create a state-of-the-art, on-site athletic training room - in addition to the athletic training facility located at Draddy Gymnasium - and a lounge/film room where student-athletes can study, conduct meetings, and strengthen overall team chemistry. The new space will be located just steps from Gaelic Park at the South Campus along Tibbett Avenue, across from Leo Hall and the new Engineering and Science Center.
The Jaspers' game at Cansius will be streamed on ESPN+. ESPN launched ESPN+ as a part of the new ESPN app. The new app is a completely re-imagined experience that includes the seamless integration of ESPN+, the first-ever multi-sport, direct-to-consumer premium subscription streaming service from The Walt Disney Company's Direct-to-Consumer and International group, in partnership with ESPN. ESPN+ is available on Amazon, Apple, and Google Platforms. The app can be attained as part of a 7-day free trial, followed by a subscription fee of just $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year, with the ability to cancel at any time.
NO RICKY YOU CAN BE SECOND!
Manhattan ranks second nationally in man-down defense, killing off 80.0 percent (28-of-35) of penalties. The Jaspers held firm against Detroit Mercy on both of its man-up opportunities and has now yielded just one man-up score in 17 attempts over the last four games.
DURING MAAC PLAY
Manhattan has yielded just two goals in 12 man-up opportunities during league play - highlighted by denying MAAC-leading Quinnipiac on all six of its opportunities.
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE
Canisius leads the MAAC and ranks 11th nationally with a 45.7 percent conversion rate on man-up opportunities en route to finding the back of the net a league-leading 16 times.
WITH A WIN ...
The Jaspers would post their first-ever victory in Buffalo, losing 10 previous decisions to the Golden Griffins on the road.
ADDITIONALLY ...
Manhattan would snap an 11-game losing streak to Canisius.
SERIES HISTORY
The Jaspers are just 4-19, all-time, against the Golden Griffins, last winning by a 13-6 count on April 28, 2007.
CLOSE CALLS
Despite their aforementioned losing streak to Canisius, Manhattan has dropped each of its last two meetings and 3-of-5 to the Golden Griffins by two goals.
WELCOME HOME
Friday's game will mark a homecoming of sorts for sophomore Reid Martin, who hails from Buffalo and attended Canisius High School. He has two goals, one assist and eight ground balls on the year.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
The Jaspers have posted improvements in numerous categories from a year ago:
Goals allowed: 10.58 (-2.63)
Defensive Shot Percentage: .267 (-.038)
Man-Down Defense: .200 (-.167)
Clear Percentage: .881 (+.035)
Opponents Clear Percentage: .888 (-.012)
SOG Percentage: .600 (+.025)
Turnovers/Game: 13.0 (-3.71)
Turnovers Forced/Game: .5.08 (+0.51)
LAST TIME OUT
Manhattan dropped an 18-8 decision to Detroit Mercy at Gaelic Park despite multiple-goals from sophomore CJ Scharf and freshmen Sean MacKinney and Justin Malpica.
PARKER LEADING THE WAY
Junior Parker Giarratana had a goal and an assist last weekend at Detroit Mercy and continues to lead the Jaspers with 19 goals, 18 assists and 37 points. With two more assists he will crack the Manhattan single-season top-10 list while becoming the first Jasper to register at least 20 in a season since 2005.
AMONG THE MAAC RANKINGS
Giarratana ranks among the MAAC leaders with 1.5 assists (4th), 3.08 points (7th) and 1.58 goals (14th) per game.
PARKER PRODUCTIONS
Giarratana matched his career-high with five goals at Monmouth while hitting the standard for the fourth time in his career. Giarratana is sixth in school history with 79 goals to go along with 41 assists (7th) and 120 points (7th) to go along with 23 multi-goal games. With two more scores, Giarratana will match James Synowiez (81) for fifth place in the Jasper career annals.
THANK YOU SENIORS
Prior to last weekend's match, seniors Ken Braun, Andrew Gresham, Zach Mermelstein, Chris Sammarro and Michael Zingaro were honored for their service to the Manhattan Lacrosse program.
NON-CONFERENCE RECAP
The Jaspers concluded non-conference play with a rousing 14-6 win at NJIT thanks to four goals and three assists from sophomore Luke Hanson while classmates Brandon Grinnell and CJ Scharf each added hat tricks.
THE WIN OVER NJIT ...
Secured Manhattan's fourth non-conference victory, matching the most by the Jaspers since earning four victories in 2009.
HANSON LIGHTING IT UP
Hanson's aforementioned seven points all came after halftime and are the most by a Manhattan player this year. His first goal tied the score up at 4-4 to start the third quarter before assisting on the go-ahead score. Additionally, he helped put the game on ice with three of the Jaspers' six fourth-quarter scores after handing out three assists at Marist. On the year, he is second on the team with 13 goals, 14 assists and 27 points while ranking seventh in the MAAC with 1.17 apg.
ZINGARO MAKING MOVES
Senior Michael Zingaro registered 14 saves in leading Manhattan to a 14-6 win at NJIT while notching an impressive .700 save percentage in earning his fourth career victory over the Highlanders. Zingaro yielded a season-low six goals and has notched at least three saves in all four quarters, including five in the second quarter. He has registered double-figures in saves in eight of his 11 games on the year and is 4-7 while ranking third in the MAAC in save percentage (.532) and saves per game (11.18).
DOUBLE FIGURE ZINGARO
Zingaro registered his 36th career double-digit save performance with 14 stops vs. Detroit Mercy.
CLEARING THE AIR
Since clearing the ball just 13-of-18 times in a win at Lafayette, the Jaspers are 125-of-137 on clear attempts over the last eight games, highlighted by going a perfect 13-for-13 against Monmouth.
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
Manhattan has outscored the opposition 29-18 in the final stanza this year.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
76.8 percent of the Jaspers' goals (76-of-99) and 63.2 percent of their assists (36-of-57) have been recorded by underclassmen.
ALL-TIME AGAINST CANISIUS
Giarratana has notched hat tricks in each of his two previous games against the Golden Griffins while sophomore Trevor Pelletier found the back of the net twice against Canisius a year ago. Zingaro is averaging 11.7 saves per game over his three outings against the Buffalo-based school.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GRIFFINS
Canisius is one of the top offensive teams in the league and ranks second in the MAAC with 11.52 goals per game with a league-leading .361 shot percentage that ranks fifth nationally. The Golden Griffins also boast four of the top seven scorers in the league, led by senior Connor Kearnan's league-leading 62 points (25 goals, 32 assists) and sophomore Mathias Boissonneault's team-best 30 goals. Defensively, Canisius has a MAAC-worst 13.50 GAA.
BRESSINGHAM NAMED MAAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Joseph Bressingham was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week and scooping up a career-high 11 ground balls while going 17-for-24 on faceoffs against the Hawks. Bressingham is fourth in the MAAC with 4.67 ground balls per game.
FIRST TIME, LONG TIME
Hanson became the first Jasper to win MAAC Offensive Player of the Week honors since Ryan Payton did so on March 25, 2014. The Long Island native paced Manhattan with three goals, two assists, and a ground ball against No. 8 Virginia and UMass Lowell. He notched a goal, an assist, and a ground ball against the Cavaliers before following that up with two goals and an assist against UMass Lowell.
ZINGARO BEING ZINGARO
For the second time this year and the third in his career, Zingaro was named MAAC Defensive Player of the Week. He recorded 15.0 saves, 6.0 ground balls per game, and posted a .612 save percentage over games against No. 8 Virginia and UMass Lowell. The senior yielded just eight goals to the Cavaliers as they failed to score in double-figures for the first time this year. He finished the game with 18 saves and five ground balls before notching 12 saves and added seven ground balls in a narrow two-goal loss to the River Hawks.
ZINGARO, MACKINNEY EARN MAAC WEEKLY ACCOLADES
Zingaro earned his first MAAC Defensive Player of the Week accolade after leading Manhattan to a pair of wins over Bellarmine and Lafayette while freshman Sean MacKinney earned Rookie of the Week honors.
* Zingaro dominated behind the pipes to the a tune of a .609 save percentage while averaging 14.0 saves per game. He notched 16 stops in the win over Bellarmine and 12 in the victory over Lafayette. Over the two games, he also did not yield a fourth-quarter score.
* MacKinney tallied seven goals in leading the Jaspers to wins at Lafayette and against Bellarmine. The attack found the back of the net four times in the victory over the Knights, and totaled three ground balls after beginning the week with three scores against the Leopards.
HANSON FEATURED IN THE QUAD
Hanson was interviewed about balancing academics and athletics and why he chose Manhattan College. Take a look by clicking HERE.
COLLARD IN THE JOURNAL
Freshman Austin Collard was featured in the New England Lacrosse Journal and named the publication's Freshman of the Week after scoring a goal at Wagner ... Read the full article by clicking HERE.
UP NEXT
Manhattan will conclude regular season play against Siena on Friday, April 27 at 7:00 pm.