Mount Ida College men's lacrosse junior Paul Battapaglia (Clinton, CT/Morgan) scored four times defeating host Maine Maritime Academy 16-6 in a North Atlantic Conference (NAC) contest Saturday afternoon at Ritchie Field. The Mustangs improve to a league best 8-0 and sit atop the standings with a 9-6 overall record.
Mount Ida jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute on a Nick Yacuzzi (Oakham, MA/St. John's) unassisted goal giving the Mustangs the early advantage. The Mariners quickly answered less than a minute later scoring an unassisted goal of their own by Wade Mondoux (No. Berwick, ME) knotting the score at 1-1.
The Mustangs went up 3-1 on goals by Derek Broughton (Peabody, MA/Peabody) and Battapaglia. Mount Ida took the two-goal advantage into the second quarter and added to the lead with Battapaglia’s second tally of the afternoon on an assist from Broughton.
Trailing 4-1, MMA answered with back-to-back goals from junior attack Chris Keiley (Holliston, MA), before Mount Ida ended the first half scoring on a Yacuzzi goal. The Mariners went into the half trailing 5-3.
Mount Ida and Maritime exchanged early goals before the visitors rattled off the six markers putting the game out of reach. Jake Davis (Chester, NH) got the scoring started followed by goals from Derek O’Reilly (East Setauket, NY/Ward Melville, Christopher Prophete (Waltham, MA/Waltham) and Broughton. With the Mustangs leading 10-4, Yacuzzi notched his third of the afternoon before Battapaglia ended the quarter with a goal that gave Mount Ida the 12-4 lead.
The Mariners attempted to mount a comeback, scoring the first two goals of the fourth, on shots by Todd Murphy (Middlesex, VT) and Keiley. With the score at 12-6, Mount Ida ended the half on a 4-0 run that sealed the win for the visitors and ended the game with the Mustangs winning 16-6.
O’Reilly finished the day with six points while Yacuzzi chipped in with five points. James McAllister (Smithfield, RI/LaSalle Academy) got the win for Mount Ida making 13 saves in 37 minutes. Matt Vernick (Bethany, CT/Amity Regional) won 16 of 25 face offs for Mount Ida while collecting 15 ground balls.
Chris Keiley and Tom Houle (Manchester, NH) each had three points for MMA while Wade Mondoux and Andrew DiSalvo (Glastonbury, CT) each picked up a goal. Kevin Boucher (Gorham, ME) took the loss for MMA making 15 saves on 48 shots.
The Mustangs will host their final regular season game of the year against visiting Husson University this Sunday at 2:00 p.m. on senior day.