BUZZARDS BAY, Mass -- The Buccaneers men's lacrosse team played their home opener on Sunday against non-conference opponent Manhattanville. The Bucs got the better of their guests from New York winning the game 17-10.

The Basics

Final: Buccaneers 17, Valiants 10

Records: Maritime (2-1)

              Manhattanville (3-2)

Between The Pipes

Maritime: Ronan Kearney (W, 1-0): 17 Sv | 10 GA | 27 SH | 60 Min

Manhattanville: Joe Ulzheimer (L, 3-2): 12 Sv | 17 GA | 29 SH | 60 Min

Inside The Numbers

Maritime

• Jack Iversen and Daniel Kane posted identical five goal, four assist stat lines in the game.
• Quinn Mucha added three goals in the win.
• Joe Vricella scored twice while Cooper McIntire and Seamus Buckley each scored once.
• Mucha led all players in the game with five assists. Vricella added a helper of his own.
• Faceoff man, Brian Rosher won 22-of-30 faceoffs and picked up a game-high 13 ground balls. 
• Defensively, the Bucs caused nine turnovers, Mucha led the way with three.
• In total, Maritime icked up 44 ground balls, were 21-of-28 on clearances, won 22 of 30 faceoffs, scored one poweplay goal on three attempts, and took a total of 54 shots in the game.

Manhattanville

• Tyler Berch led the way for the Valiants with three goals in the loss. Michael Swift and Nick Cornelia each scored two with Sean Larkin and Drew Palladino each scoring once. 
• Cornelia led the team in assists with three on the day.
• On the faceoff, Aaron Goldstein won eight-of-27 faceoffs.
• Chris Perrone, Swift, and Cornelia each picked up four ground balls.
• Defensively, Mike Mooney and Cornelia each caused three turnovers.
• In total, Manhattanville picked up 31 ground balls, went 19-for-24 on clearances, won eight-of-30 faceoffs, scored two powerplay goals on 11 opportunities, and took 48 total shots.

How It Happened

What began as a low-scoring affain between the Bucs and Vals didn't end that way. In the first quarter there were just three goals scored with the Bucs scoring two, the first of the game from Vricella, and the last of the quarters from Kane. Manhattanville scored a poswerplay goal in the middle of the Buccaneers goals on Berch's first of the day. The Bucs led 2-1 after 15 minutes of play.

In the second, the Bucs outscored their guests once again, this time 3-2. Vricella opened the scoring in the second and Iversen followed that up with a powerplay goal four minutes later. Kane made it four unanswered for the Bucs at 7:33 to give the hosts a 5-1 advantage. In the final four and a half minutes of the first hal, the Valiants got goals from Swift and Palladino to cut the Buccaneers lead to two goals, 5-3, heading to the halftime break. 

The third wuarter was where the game really broke open with an 11 goal marathon. Iversen scored first for the Bucs to make it 6-3. Berch then scored for Manhattanville on another powerplay to make it 6-4. The teams traded goals one more time with Kane scoring for the Bucs and Berch again for the Vals. Maritime led 7-5 halfway through the third. Iversen and Kane proceeded to go back-to-back within 40 seconds of each other and each assisted on the other's goal to put the Buccaneers up 9-5. That was followed by Manhattanville's best run of the game, scoring three in a row to get within one goal. Up 9-8, Maritime scored twice in the final 23 seconds of the third. The first came off the stick of Kane and the second at the buzzer of the period from Buckley. Maritime led by three, 11-8, at the end of the quarters.

In the third, the Buccaneers defense held strong and the offense ept up its scoring ways. Mucha scored the first goal of the quarter with the Bucs down a man. Manhattanville then scored two in a row to make the score 12-10. That would be the final goal for the Valiants as the Bucs went on a five goal unanswered run to finish the game. Mucha scored the first goal of the run and Iversen added two. Each of the three goals were scored within an 11 second span from 4:55 to 4:44. Mucha added another at 1:51 and McIntire capped off the 17-10 win with his first career goal with just over a minute to play.

What's Next

The Buccaneers will host the Norwich Cadets in an annual matchup between the teams on Wednesday, March 6th at 5pm at Clean Harbors Stadium.