Box Score (PDF)
Riverdale, NY - Senior
Parker Giarratana (Delray, FL / Boca Raton Community) scored four goals, including the game-winning score with just 2:43 remaining, to lead Manhattan to an 11-10 season-opening win over Wagner at Gaelic Park.
Giarratana added two assists while sophomore
Justin Malpica (Glen Head, NY / Long Island Lutheran) found the back of the net twice with an assist to lead the way for a Jasper squad that posted a near wire-to-wire win.
After Nick Warren opened the scoring just eight seconds into the game, Giarratana set the tone for his big day when he found sophomore
Sean MacKinney (Martinsville, NJ / Bridgewater Raritan) in front of the net for the equalizer.
MacKinney's scored fueled a 4-1 spurt as freshman
Tadhg O'Riordan (Tappan, NY / Tappan Zee) followed with his first collegiate goal off before Malpica found the back of the net. Following a brief Seahawk answer, Giarratana scored his first goal of the day with an impressive move in staking the Jaspers to a 4-2 advantage after one period of action.
Wagner would respond with two goals to tie up the score and would frustrate Manhattan for most of the quarter, until Malpica gave the Jaspers a 5-4 halftime advantage off a
Brandon Grinnell (Jr., Wakefield, MA / Wakefield Memorial) feed.
Manhattan erupted out of the gates to start the second half with goals from junior
Trevor Pelletier (Miami, FL / Gulliver Prep) and Giarratana in opening up a three-goal advantage with 12:35 to play in the stanza. Unfortunately, the Seahawks would answer with three of the next four scores in trimming the deficit to 8-7 after three periods.
Junior
Luke Hanson (Middletown, NY / Minisink Valley) and Grinnell tallied goals to start the fourth in staking the Jaspers to a 10-8 advantage. Wagner would hang around and tie the game with back-to-back scores.
Giarratana followed with the aforementioned game-winner, after corralling the ball following a scrum in front of the net. Manhattan then forced a shot clock violation and would go on to run out the clock in collecting its first season-opening win since the 2008 season.
Sophomore
Brendan Krebs (East Williston, NY / Chaminade) was the beneficiary of Giarratana's big day, earning his first collegiate victory while making 10 stops between the pipes.
Coach Kelleher On The Win
Notes
* Giarratana, who also had a team-high five ground balls, is now fourth in school history with 87 career goals, while also ranking fifth with 135 points and sixth with 48 assists.
* He registered his eighth four-goal performance and finishes his career against Wagner with 12 goals and six assists.
* Additionally, two of Giarratana's three game-winning scores have come against the Seahawks.
* Manhattan holds an all-time record of 16-2 against Wagner, including a perfect 8-0 at Gaelic Park, while outscoring the Seahawks by a combined 238-134 count.
* The Jaspers claimed their second-straight home-opening win in as many seasons.
* Manhattan was 19-of-20 on clear attempts while senior
Robert Carroll (Grosse Pointe Park, MI / Grosse Pointe South) was 12-for-22 (.545) at the faceoff X.
* Nic Ancona, Spencer Kaufman and Tyler Grady all had two goals to pace Wagner on offense while Matt Sefcik made 11 saves in net.
Up Next
* The Jaspers will look to make it two in a row next Saturday at VMI with opening face-off slated for 12:00 pm.
