Box Score Boxscore
DALLAS, Pa. – Junior forward
Eros Olazabal (Milton, Ontario/Bishop Reding) scored his 21st goal of the season in the first half to set a new Manhattanville single-season scoring record as the Manhattanville men's soccer team upset previously undefeated No. 13/25 Misericordia by the score of 2-0 in Dallas, Pa. on Saturday afternoon.
Manhattanville started out slow with only one shot in the first 29 minutes of the contest off the foot of Eros. At the 29:45 mark Eros took his second shot of the contest and banked it off the post and past Misericordia goalkeeper Dan Fritz to give the Valiants a 1-0 lead.
Eros' 21st gives him sole possession of first place on the all-time single season record for goals, breaking the record that has stood since 2003 when Scott Vieira had 20. Olazabal also moves up into a second place tie on the single-season points list with 45, tying him with Vieira's 2003 season, first place is occupied by Vieira's 2005 campaign that saw him notch 47 points.
Less than seven minutes later senior Adam Kent (London, England/Sutton Grammar) sent a direct kick into the box that found the head of classmate Emil Sjoberg (Stockholm, Sweden/Tyreso Gymnasium) who redirected it past Fritz just inside the right post. The goal gave the Valiants a 2-0 lead heading into the halftime break.
After the intermission the Valiants fell into a defensive trap trying to keep their ranked opponents off the score sheet, holding the Cougars to only six shots, none of which were on target in the second half while the Valiants took none.
Graduate goalkeeper Jason Torres (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) collected the victory making only one save along the way for his seventh win of the season, while Fritz and the Cougars took their first loss of the 2011 season to fall to 9-1-1.
In terms of shots the Cougars outshot their guests by an 11-4 margin, but Manhattanville made their shots count with four, two that were goal and reached the back of the net. Corner kicks were also in favor of the home team at a 6-4 margin through the contest.
Manhattanville (9-3-0, 1-1-0 Freedom) will return to play this Tuesday at home against Freedom opponent FDU-Florham at 3:00 p.m. with game coverage on GoValiants.TV. Misericordia (9-1-1, 1-1-0 Freedom) also returns to conference play on Tuesday when they travel to King's (Pa.) for a game slated for 4:00 p.m.
