Farmingdale State 15, Manhattanville 5
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. | The Farmingdale State College men's lacrosse team clinched the No. 1 seed for next week's Skyline Conference Championship, as the Rams defeated visiting Manhattanville University on Saturday afternoon, 15-5.
Prior to the game, FSC celebrated Senior Day for 11 student-athletes who were taking part in their final regular-season home game:
Michael Cassano (Plainview, N.Y.);
Dan Erler (Smithtown, N.Y.);
Andrew Giovinco (Syosset, N.Y.);
William Henry (West Islip, N.Y.);
Antonio Kaminskey (Lindenhurst, N.Y.);
Kyle Kolano (Babylon, N.Y.);
Tyler Kollar (Bellport, N.Y.);
Gerardo Maldonado (West Hempstead, N.Y.);
Jason Murphy (Seaford, N.Y.);
Nick Rizzuto (Bohemia, N.Y.); and
Thomas Stock (Selden, N.Y.). Erler, Kaminskey, Kolano, Maldonado and Stock were a part of Senior Day ceremonies during the 2024 campaign, before they returned to the Rams this spring to use their final year of eligibility.
With Saturday's result, Farmingdale State (14-3, 6-1 Skyline) is now the top seed for the 2025 Skyline Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship. The Rams, the No. 1 seed for the first time since the 2011 season and who are receiving votes in this week's USILA Division III Coaches Poll, have home-field advantage throughout the four-team tourney and will play host to the Valiants (5-11, 4-3) in Tuesday's semifinal round at 4 p.m. Tuesday's other semifinal will pit third-seeded Maritime College at second-seeded U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, at 7 p.m.
Manhattanville scored the first two goals of the afternoon, before FSC leveled the contest at the end of the first quarter, 2-2, on a man-up goal by Maldonado at 6:26, followed by a tying score from junior
Amir Slaughter (North Babylon, N.Y.) with 2:02 left.
After the Valiants went back ahead 91 seconds into the second period, the Rams scored the next 11 goals of the contest, carrying an 8-3 lead into halftime and a 13-3 edge into the fourth quarter. Slaughter's second goal of the day came at the 12:53 mark of the second, before sophomore
Adam Giovinco (Syosset, N.Y.) put the Rams ahead for good off a feed from junior
Kamryn Gill (Riverhead, N.Y.) just 33 seconds later. The Giovinco brothers, Gill and Stock each scored one more goal in the first half, with Stock's tally coming in the final 10 seconds, to provide for Farmingdale State's 8-3 edge at halftime.
In all, the Rams – ranked No. 4 nationally in scoring defense behind Rizzuto, Henry, sophomore
Joseph Bleck (Farmingdale, N.Y.) and freshman
Logan Reese (West Islip, N.Y.) – kept Manhattanville off the scoreboard for a 32:09 stretch after the visitors went ahead at 3-2. The visitors did not score again until the Valiants' man-up tally with 11:20 remaining in the fourth quarter, and cut their deficit to 13-5 seconds later. From there,
Adam Giovinco connected on his fifth goal of the day with 5:50 on the clock, before
Andrew Giovinco's second of the afternoon came on an extra-man situation at 3:40 to close out the scoring.
Adam Giovinco finished with a game-high seven points, while Stock (3g, 3a) and Gill (2g, 4a) tallied six points apiece.
Andrew Giovinco (3a) and Slaughter each netted on two occasions, while the hosts held the majority of possession time due to Kaminskey's 15-of-22 performance on face-offs to go with a game-high nine ground balls. Sophomore long-stick midfielder
Sean Lawson (Mattituck, N.Y) led all players with four caused turnovers, while Reese finished with three. Rizzuto registered eight saves in the FSC cage, before giving way late in the fourth period to Murphy.Â
