Farmingdale State - 16, Manhattanville - 11
Purchase, N.Y. - Farmingdale State freshman attack Ryan Wieczorek (West Islip, N.Y.) tallied a game-high eight points on five goals and three assists as the Rams earned a 16-11 non-conference victory at Manhattanville on Wednesday night. The FSC men's lacrosse team improved to 2-0 on the year, while the Valiants are now 0-1.
Trailing 2-1 with 8:39 left in the first, FSC sophomore attack Christian Ferruzza (Bethpage, N.Y.) evened the score after netting the pass from Tyler Rifice (Bohemia, N.Y.). Less than a minute later, a Patrick Cowcer (East Northport, N.Y.) goal put the Rams ahead, 3-2. Wieczorek followed with three consecutive goals to increase the advantage to 6-2 with 2:28 remaining in the quarter. FSC went ahead by five after senior midfielder Mike Curry (Melville, N.Y.) recorded the final goal of the quarter off Rifice's pass.
Manhattanville opened the second with back-to-back goals by Tristan Green (Easton, Conn.) and Will Duval (Granite Bay, Calif.) to close within three, 7-4.
Leading 9-6 with 2:13 remaining in the first half, an unassisted goal from Rifice and a score by Curry gave Farmingdale State an 11-6 advantage at the break.
Only 41 seconds after halftime, senior midfielder Stephen White (Copiague, N.Y.) put the Rams up by six as Wieczorek tallied the assist. Three straight FSC goals, including two from James Ragland (Seaford, N.Y.) and one by Rifice, extended the lead to 15-6.
The Valiants responded with three consecutive man-up scores spanning the end of the third and early in the fourth to cut the deficit to 15-9. Manhattanville outscored the Rams 2-1 over the final 9:32 but FSC earned the 16-11 non-conference win.
Curry totaled seven points on two goals and a game-high five assists, while Rifice had three goals and three assists. Freshman midfielder Anthony Sforza (Plainview, N.Y.) was 20-of-26 on face-offs and picked up a game-high 11 ground balls and freshman defender Justin Napolitano (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) caused a game-high four turnovers for FSC.
Manhattanville was led by Duval's six points on three goals and three assists.
Farmingdale State next will play host to Eastern Connecticut in a non-conference game on Saturday, March 4th at 2:30 p.m.
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