Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Jaspers fell 8-7 to the Siena Saints in their final Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game of 2014. Manhattan's loss coupled with Marist's victory over Canisius eliminates the Jaspers from the upcoming MAAC Tournament.
Playoff seeding explained:
Five teams finished with identical 3-3 records in conference play following the conclusion of Saturday night's games. Canisius, Detroit, Manhattan, Marist and Quinnipiac all finished with that record. The first tiebreaker was record against opponents within the mini-conference, which each of the five teams went 2-2. The second tiebreaker was each team within the mini-conference's record against the team occupying the highest position in the conference, which was Siena. All five teams lost to Siena this spring. The next clause in this tiebreaker also took into consideration each team's record against the lowest team in the conference, which was Monmouth. All five teams beat Monmouth in the regular season. The third tiebreaker measured goal differential in games within the mini-conference. This tiebreaker ultimately decided which teams received postseason berths. To make a long story short, Marist owned a +9 goal differential, Detroit +1, Canisius and Quinnipiac were each -2, and Manhattan was -6. Therefore, Siena clinched the 1-seed after going undefeated in conference play. Marist had the best goal differential in the mini-conference at +9 and received the 2-seed. Detroit followed as the 3-seed. Although Canisius and Quinnipiac had identical -2 goal differentials, but Canisius defeated Quinnipiac 11-10 in the regular season and thus advanced on that note to take the 4-seed. Manhattan and Quinnipiac were eliminated from postseason contention.
In the game, Siena rattled off seven goals in a row from the 12:03 mark of the second quarter to :45 into the fourth quarter. This gave the Saints a commanding 8-3 lead. The Jaspers would not go down quietly, as junior Andrew Hurst struck just over two minutes later to start off a lengthy Manhattan run. Junior Marcel Godino scored 4:12 later to make the score 8-5. A quick man-up goal from senior Ryan Payton :29 later brought the game to within two, at 8-6, with 7:26 to play. Senior starting goalkeeper Rich Akapnitis made a huge foot save while the Jaspers were a man down to keep the game at 8-6 with about 5:40 remaining. Hurst netted a second goal to cap off the run with 4:35 remaining. Siena had possession with 1:10 remaining and were trying to run the clock down on Manhattan, but the Jaspers would have none of it. Senior Sean McMahon caused a turnover to give Manhattan one final opportunity. The Jaspers could not find the back of the net the rest of the way as Saints goalkeeper Tommy Cordts made a clutch save with :15 remaining to seal the Siena victory.
Siena's Richie Hurley was the high point-getter of the night, tallying a hat trick to go along with two assists. Conor Prunty also recorded a hat trick for Siena in the game. Siena Faceoff man Casey Dowd picked up a game-high six ground balls in the contest, and went 10-17 at the X. Tommy Cordts made 10 saves in cage.
For Manhattan, Hurst had a team-high three points, notching two goals and an assist. Godino, Payton, senior Pat Hodapp, junior Tyler Eidel and sophomore Nick Strano netted once each. McMahon led the team with five ground balls, and in doing so, sits in sole possession of third place on the Jaspers all-time ground ball list. Akapnitis made 12 saves in the game, giving him 505 in his Manhattan career.
Hodapp concluded the season as the team's leading point scorer, with 17 goals and 11 assists for 28 points. Payton ended the year with a team-high 24 goals. McMahon led the team in both ground balls (90) and caused turnovers (24).
Manhattan ended the year with a 5-10 overall record, and 3-3 in conference play.
