Baltimore, Md. (October 27, 2006)- Manhattan tallied the first goal of the game, and forced overtime with MAAC power Loyola for the third time in the last four meetings, but dropped a hard fought, 2-1, decision this evening at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field on the Loyola campus on the first day of the conference's closing weekend.
The Greyhounds forced the action in the early going, getting five shots off and earning three corner kicks in the first 18 minutes. This Jasper team, though young, is in the last stages of the intense conference season, and therefore can no longer be considered MAAC neophytes, and they showed their mettle, staving off all Loyola attempts in the first half.
An opportunistic team all season, Manhattan put together a counterattack late in the half. Junior
Adam Kiley served the ball to sophomore
Kyle Lauchmen, who headed the ball over the charging Greyhound goalkeeper to give the Jaspers a 1-0 lead at the 42:41 mark, a lead they carried into the break.
A red card to a Manhattan player in the 54th minute reduced the Jaspers to just 10 men on the field, and Loyola took advantage of the extra man, scoring the equalizer at the 60:41 as Josh Taylor took a feed from Danny Wheelan and found the back of the net.
Manhattan had a chance to take the lead in the 74th minute, but Kiley's shot was corralled by Loyola netminder Justin Chelland.
Sophomore
John Ciano, who was spectacular between the pipes all game, kept the Greyhounds out the net the rest of regulation, and the two sides had to go to overtime to decide the match.
Loyola came out aggressively in the overtime period, causing Ciano to make three of his game-high seven saves, but the Greyhounds were able to slide one past Ciano at the 98:20 mark to end the game.
Manhattan concludes the regular season on Sunday, October 29, taking on Rider on the Bronc's Lawrenceville, N.J. campus. The game is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m.
