Swimming and Diving
The coaches’ preseason polls were announced by the MAAC for the 2015-2016 swimming and diving season. Manhattan’s men’s team was picked to finish eighth, a one spot improvement from last season’s poll. Women’s was selected to finish ninth in the conference. Both teams will travel to Pennsylvania for a matchup against Marywood to start their seasons on Oct. 10.
Women’s Soccer
Manhattan now stands at 6-3-1 this season and 2-0-1 in conference play after a tie with Fairfield last Wednesday.
Erica Modena notched the first goal of the game, her team-leading eighth of the season, off of a pass from Nicole Copping in the 30th minute. It kept its lead into the second half until Fairfield’s Jenny Jacobs scored in the 58th minute of the game.
Manhattan led with five corner kicks in the game and gave up four to Fairfield, who led in shots 13-4 but was unable to convert on any more chances. After two overtime periods, the final score was a 1-1 tie.
Kristen Skonieczny had five saves in the game and is 5-2-1 on the season. She earned her third career MAAC Defensive Player of the Week nod after Manhattan notched a 1-0 victory over Siena on Sept. 26. It was also Skonieczny’s fourth shutout with a season-high seven saves. She lowered her GAA to 0.46 and improved her save percentage to .909.
The team was honored with a 2014-2015 College Team Academic Award by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). It was one of 560 teams to be recognized with their average team GPA of 3.49.
Manhattan will continue conference play when they host Saint Peter’s on Oct. 7.
Men’s Soccer
Manhattan earned its first victory of the season against Fairfield last Wednesday night at Gaelic Park.
The win comes after a 2-0 loss to Siena on Sept. 26. Siena’s two goals in the first half proved to be enough for the victory, despite Manhattan’s 14-10 lead in shots, seven of them on goal. Alex Shackley led with two shots on goal.
Against Fairfield, Troy Carrington broke the scoreless tie in the 86th minute of the game to give Manhattan the 1-0 lead. Fairfield was close to respond but the last-second shot went wide.
The first half of the game was quiet for Manhattan, with their first shot not coming until the 65th minute. Fairfield led 14-6 in shots but Manhattan had the advantage in corner kicks, 4-3.
Manhattan’s freshman goalkeeper R.J. Noll earned his first collegiate win with four saves in the game. Manhattan improves to 1-5-1 and 1-1 in conference play and it continues MAAC play against Saint Peter’s on Wednesday Oct. 7.
Volleyball
Manhattan had two back-to-back victories last weekend against Canisius and Niagara.
After a 3-0 victory over Canisius, Manhattan notched a 3-1 win with a 19-25, 25-13, 25-21, 25-17 victory after Niagara won the first set. Niagara had an early lead in the second set but a kill by Milena Janjusevic was the push Manhattan needed to take over and it started on a 16-5 run.
A block by Ivana Kostic and Jade Gray ended Manhattan’s 25-13 win and evened the match. Marissa Behrens and Janjusevic followed with kills to give Manhattan a 2-1 lead in the match. To follow up, Claire Van Dyk had a kill to finish the last set 25-17 and get the 3-1 victory for Manhattan. Allie Yamashiro had 16 digs for Manhattan, who led in digs 63-58.
Yamashiro also earned MAAC Libero of the Week award for the second time this season. She notched 5.71 digs and 0.43 assists last week in Manhattan’s two victories. She has been recognized in her career 10 times. This is Manhattan’s third MAAC weekly award this season with Alyssa Rehrer earning MAAC Rookie of the Week on Sept. 22.