The Misericordia men's soccer team lost their conference opener 1-0 at home today to Manhattanville, with the Valiants scoring the winning goal late in the second half.

Manhattanville out-shot the Cougars 23-7, although many of those attempts were from the outside as MU attempted to keep the possession-oriented Valiants out of dangerous areas.

But all that work was undone in the 83rd minute as a cross skipped through the MU defense to the back post, leaving a Manhattanville midfielder to easily slot the ball into the corner.

Misericordia had one good chance to equalize in the final minute, as Josh Pfahl headed a throw-in down to Joey Scanlon, who in turn set up Cody Harman at the top of the box, but the senior's shot went wide of the left post.

Manhattanville out-shot Misericordia 10-2 in the first half, with the Valiants coming close to scoring on several occasions, including one chance where they hit the crossbar.

The Cougars' only good chances in the first period came when freshman Nick Ferguson beat several defenders on the run but shot high, and when Harman penetrated from the end-line and fed Kevan Nagle at the top of the box, who also put his shot over.

Early in the second half, Manhattanville beat MU goalkeeper Andrew Loyd but defender Chris Hummel was there to clear the ball before it crossed the end-line. The Cougars did a better job swallowing up the Valiants' attack until the late breakdown that led to the goal.

Misericordia is now 4-4-2, and 0-1 in the Freedom Conference. The Cougars are off until next weekend when they travel to FDU-Florham for their second conference match of the year.