Jasper men's kickers blank FDU

Manhattan College men’s soccer team shut out Fairleigh Dickinson University while Jaspers’ women’s volleyball and men’s golf are still trying to find their way during rebuilding seasons.

Men’s soccer pulled out the only win for the Jaspers this week, beating FDU 2-0 at a home match at Gaelic Park. This was the last non-conference game of the season, and the win brought confidence to the program as they enter MAAC play.

“To finish our non-conference schedule off with a complete performance and win allows us to step into the MAAC with confidence and belief,” head coach Jorden Scott told Go Jaspers.  “We have faced some tough challenges and we have learned a lot about how we can get better and truly unite as a team. We are ready for whatever is put in front of us and will rise to the challenge like Jaspers always do.”

Johan Velez scored the first goal of the night off an assist from Nassim Akki.

Their second goal was scored in the 52nd minute shortly after the start of the second half.

Sophomore Gunnar Studenhofft got a break away up the right side, but his shot was deflected by FDU keeper Juan Martin Barahona. Velez stormed the net to finish his second goal of the night, making this his first multi-goal collegiate performance.

The Jaspers’ first round of MAAC play will start at Rider University next Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.

Women’s volleyball

Jaspers’ volleyball, under the new direction of coach Mauro Miletic and assistant coach Sara Atai, lost their tenth consecutive game this weekend to Fairleigh Dickinson.

With no wins yet in the season, the team starts conference play with a 0-2 record.

As reported by The Quadrangle newspaper, the volleyball team was riddled with injuries at the start of the season and relied on women’s basketball players Christina Katsamouri, Annie Bair, Bella Nascimento and Leyla Ozturk to make a short cameo as two-sport-Division I-athletes so the team could participate in competition.

The original volleyball squad of nine girls dropped quickly to five, and head basketball coach Heather Vulin heledp.

“I just thought it was really generous of my girls to offer to play and participate because it gave the players that were healthy a chance to compete, and gave the coaches … opportunities to coach,” Vulin told The Quadrangle.

“I thought it was just great teamwork on their part, so I was really proud of them.”

With a jigsaw-puzzle team of scattered athletes, the Manhattan volleyball team used their resources to give the start of the season a good college try. But despite their efforts, they still have not been able to pull out a win.

Manhattan took early leads in sets one and two of the match against FDU.

Graduate student Julia Menocal had a team-high 11 kills for the night, and Julieanne McKee had 10 assists.

To round out the effort, freshman Teresa Garza led the team with 7 total digs for the game.

FDU eventually overcame those leads, finishing with scores of 25-18, 25-14 and 25-22.

Men’s golf

Manhattan College’s golf team finished in 15th place at the Hartford Haek Invitational, with a score of 915 (+51) over three rounds. Key golfers in round two were freshman David Mlynek with a score of 70 (-2) and junior Colby Norton who shot 75 (+3). The team shot 301 (+17) in that round.

The two remained leaders for the Jaspers in round three. Mlynek shot a 71 (-1) and Norton stayed consistent at 75 (+3). As a whole, the Jaspers shot a 305 (+17) in their final round.

Mlynek, with a score of 212 (-4) ranked 10th individually among the 95 golfers at the tournament.