Mount Ida senior Dan Harrington (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) capped a wild Mustang rally with his game-winning goal 1:38 into overtime, pushing the visiting Mustangs to a dramatic, come-from-behind 7-6 win over Clark University in non-league men's lacrosse action on Wednesday evening on Granger Field. Mount Ida captures their first victory of the season
The Mustangs, down 2-0 at halftime and 5-1 with less than three minutes remaining in the third period, mounted a scoring frenzy that saw them score six of the game's final seven goals, including the final four to earn their first win of the season.
Mount Ida's remarkable recovery spoiled a career day by Cougar captain Eugene Arsenault (South Portland, Maine). Arsenault scored the game's first three goals to record a natural hat trick on his way to a career-high five goals.
However, with Clark ahead by four goals in the waning minutes of the third period, Nick Yacuzzi (Worcester, MA/St. John's-Shrewsbury) got the comeback launched with his first score of the game at the 2:10 mark of the frame.
Thirty seconds into the fourth, the Mustangs added another score when Derek Broughton (Peabody, MA/Peabody) setup Matt Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody) to close the gap to 5-3.
A little more than minute later, Arsenault's fifth and final score gave the Cougars some breathing room at 6-3.
From then on, however, Mount Ida took control.
Broughton assisted on Savage's second score and Ian Saunders' (Glen Falls, NY/Glen Falls) first tally during a two minute span that made the score 6-5 with 8:14 left.
The Mustangs evened the score at 6-6 when Yacuzzi recorded an unassisted marker at 6:29.
Both teams had a possession in the extra period and Mount Ida ended theirs with Harrington's lone goal of the game.
Neither team excelled in the extra-man opportunities, with the Cougars going 1-for-7 and the Mustangs just 1-for-6. At one point in the second period, Clark killed off a two-man Mount Ida advantage.
James McAllister (Smithfield, RI/LaSalle Academy) was tremendous in goal for the Mustangs, turning back 13 shots, while Cougar netminder Andrew DeVito (Glastonbury, Conn.) made seven stops and added three groundballs.
Clark also held a 35-23 edge in shots and was 10-for-15 on face-offs.
Mount Ida returns to the field on Saturday with a road trip to Eastern Connecticut with game time slated for 12:00 noon.