Farmingdale State - 12, Manhattanville - 6

Farmingdale, N.Y. - Junior attack Tyler Rifice* (Bohemia, N.Y.) scored a career-high seven goals as the Farmingdale State men's lacrosse team earned a 12-6 season-opening victory over Manhattanville this afternoon. Rifice's seven goals are tied for second all-time at FSC in a single game.

The Rams (1-0) jumped out to an early lead on an unassisted goal by junior midfielder Mike Curry (Melville, N.Y.) only 2:49 into the game. With 6:54 left in the first, Rifice recorded a man-up score off the feed from Michael Cegielski (Somers, N.Y.) to put Farmingdale State ahead, 2-0.

After Manhattanville (1-1) cut the deficit to 2-1, Rifice scored off Curry's pass early in the second quarter to give the Rams a two goal advantage. Curry and senior midfielder Derrick Sherrod (Huntington, N.Y.) added goals for FSC as the Rams took a 5-1 lead into the break.

With 12:59 left to play in the third, Curry scored his third goal of the game and Rifice followed with three unanswered goals to put Farmingdale State on top, 9-1. The Valiants cut the deficit to 9-3 with 4:08 remaining in the quarter, before Rifice scored back-to-back man-up goals both off James Reiser (Melville, N.Y.) passes to open up an 11-3 lead.

After a Dan Caliendo (Sayville, N.Y.) score gave the Rams a 12-3 edge, Manhattanville closed with three goals as FSC picked up the opening day victory, 12-6.

Curry finished with four points on three goals and an assist, while Reiser and Cegielski each had two assists. Junior midfielder Stephen White (Copiague, N.Y.) and senior defender Kyle Carrick* (Bay Shore, N.Y.) led the team in ground balls with six and five, respectively. Freshman midfielder Doug Hellberg (Wantagh, N.Y.) was 8-for-11 in face-offs in his first collegiate game.

The Valiants were led by Ed Motherway (Suffield, Conn.) and Andrew Murray (Yonkers, N.Y.) who each scored a team-high two goals.

Farmingdale State senior goalkeeper Thomas Fallon (Kings Park, N.Y.) had five saves in 45 minutes of action, while junior Zach Hoffman (Loundonville, N.Y.) stopped 12 shots for Manhattanville.

The Rams next will host Salve Regina in a non-conference game on Saturday, March 5th at noon.

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