Box Score Boxscore
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Manhattanville men's soccer team defeated King's on Sunday afternoon by a score of 4-0. The conference win gives the Valiants 18 points on the season which clinches a least a tie for first place in the Freedom Conference and a home match in the Freedom Conference Championship semifinals on Wednesday.
The win also gives Manhattanville their 15th of the season, which sets a single-season record in program history, surpassing the 14 wins held by the 1999 edition of the men's soccer team that is the school's only previous NCAA Tournament squad.
The Valiants started out of the gates very quickly with a pair of shots by juniors Eros Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding) and Marco Blasetti (Yonkers, N.Y./Rye Country Day) within the first 3:07 of the game. Neither side was able to get off a successful attempt until the 9:47 mark of the game when junior Erick Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding) notched his third of the season to give Manhattanville the early 1-0 lead.
After a foul was called against King's about 16 minutes later, the Valiants had a free kick opportunity that was sent into the box and off of a Monarch defender into their own goal to give Manhattanville a 2-0 lead.
The Valiants kept the offensive attack going, getting shot-after-shot off against King's At the 36:55 point of the game Eros scored for his 25th of the season on an assist by sophomore Kyle Cassidy (Carmel, N.Y./Carmel).
King's was finally able to muster their lone shot of the first half at 38:43 but it went high of the goal occupied by graduate goalkeeper Jason Torres (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison). The two sides headed into the halftime break with the Valiants up 3-0.
After the intermission the Valiants got right back to work on the offensive attack taking four of the next five shots in the game. On Manhattanville's fourth shot of the period Eros scored once again to expand the lead to 4-0.
For Eros, it was his 26th goal of the regular season, which ties him with Rouse Alexander of Medaille College for the Division III lead in goals scored at the conclusion of the regular season. Eros' 1.44 goals per game still leads all of Division III as well.
Both teams played out the remaining 24:48 without scoring any more as the Valiants came away with the 4-0 victory.
In goal for the Valiants, Torres made a pair of saves to collect his 13th win of the year. King's goalkeeper Mark Labbadia took the loss while allowing four goals and making four saves in the effort.
Corner kicks were in favor of Manhattanville at an 8-1 margin, while shots were also well in favor of the crimson and white by a 13-4 difference, 8-2 in shots on goal.
Manhattanville finishes their regular season with a 15-3 record and a 6-1 record in Freedom Conference play. The Valiants are still unsure of their next opponent in the Freedom Conference Championship semifinals as it will depend on how DeSales finishes in their final regular-season match tomorrow afternoon against Delaware Valley. King's (Pa.) finishes with a 10-5-2 record and is 4-3 in conference play with a chance to still make the semifinals if Eastern loses to Wilkes tomorrow afternoon.
