RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Manhattan is the top seed in the MAAC Championship after sharing the MAAC Regular Season Championship with the help of two transfers on attack and the faceoff 'x'.
Dan MacKinney arrived this season after spending the last four seasons at Binghamton, and
Liam McDonough came to Riverdale after four years at UMass Lowell.
MacKinney is one of the top offensive weapons for the Jaspers. The attack is second on the team in goals with 11 and T2 in points with 29. McDonough won 54-percent of his faceoffs during the regular season and secured a team-high 72 ground balls.
"One key for me that has allowed me to make an impact this season would have to be the faceoff coaching," said McDonough. "Coach Sage working with our techniques and Coach Kubikowski game planning the situations, allowed us to win more faceoffs."
MacKinney had some insights into what the Jaspers were about, with his brother playing here and graduating in 2022. MacKinney knew the type of players and people that would be around him every day.
"Having great players around me is one key that allowed me to have an impact this season, providing support, motivation, and inspiration to achieve our team goals," noted MacKinney. "If I have a bad practice or game, I can always rely on my teammates to help me forget that bad play or sloppy stick work and help me get back on track."
Both graduate students knew they needed to come in with a different mindset than a freshman or a transfer with more than one season remaining of eligibility. The 2023 season was their last season to play college lacrosse.
"My mindset was that since I was only here for a year, I wanted to go all out and leave it all on the field each chance I got," said McDonough. "Being the new guy on a successful team, especially being older, I saw a lot of returning guys who knew the drill and worked hard. I wanted to get my job done so we could keep playing together."
"As a transfer, coming into the fall season, I wanted to be a student to the coaches and a teacher for the younger players since I had four years of experience before stepping foot on the Manhattan campus," added MacKinney. "As a graduate transfer, there was still so much that the coaches taught me this year, but I was also able to help out our younger players."
The Jaspers had key returnees on the attack, midfield, and defense. The Jaspers were picked second in the preseason poll and an expectation to compete for another MAAC Title. With early season wins over St. John's, and at Navy, the Jaspers were showing that last season wasn't a fluke and they would be a force.
Manhattan then started MAAC play with four straight wins before closing the season with a 6-2 win at Wagner to secure a share of the regular season title. MacKinney and McDonough both saw signs of eventual success before the season even started.
MacKinney noted, "I knew this group was special in the fall, but spring training camp is when the realization of what we can do this year set in. Everyone returned to campus better, faster, and stronger than in the fall. Our group understands how hard it is to be a champion and uses that championship mindset daily, whether in practice or doing extra work to improve. This team cares for what we are playing for, and all the extra time and dedication has shown that."
"I knew this was a special group when I got here, and I didn't hear people talk about last year's championship win. I thought I would hear a lot about last season and how they won the conference," said McDonough. Instead, I didn't hear much of it. I did hear a lot about how we needed to respond this year and how we could make history, going back-to-back."
MacKinney, McDonough, and the Jaspers return to Gaelic Park on Thursday for the semifinals of the MAAC Championship against Siena at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
