Senior attacker Matthew Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody) led the Mount Ida College men's lacrosse team with five goals and one assist en route to a 13-4 non-league victory over visiting Massachusetts Maritime Academy Monday afternoon on an overcast day in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs, who with the win tally their fifth consecutive victory, improve to an overall record of 7-7 and maintain their tie for first in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) standings at 5-0. The Buccaneers fall to 2-11 for 2011.
The Mustangs opened up a 7-0 lead through the first quarter of play. Savage, who tallied four of the six goals during the run, struck first four minutes into the game on a man-up possession from junior Ian Saunders (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Fall) up 1-0.
Freshman Zach Davis (Old Lyme, CT/Xavier) scored next on a dish from sophomore Nick Yacuzzi (Worcester, MA/St. John's-Shrewsbury) leading 2-0 halfway through the first frame.
Senior Derek Broughton (Peabody, MA/Peabody) inflated the lead to 3-0 on an unassisted bid late in the first quarter. Savage continued the scoring run with two goals the first on a feed from senior Dan Harrington (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) making it 5-0 at the end of the first quarter. An unassisted bid by Savage ensued for the only goal of the second quarter to give Mount Ida a commanding 6-0 advantage.
Yacuzzi capped off the big scoring run for the Mustangs on a dish from Harrington to lead 7-0 in the opening minute of the third stanza.
The visitors finally got on the board just over a minute into the third on an unassisted goal from Buccaneer senior Jake Bickley (Wilbraham, MA/Minnechaug Regional) for his first of two scores on the day with his squad trailing 7-1.
Mount Ida countered with Yacuzzi's second and final goal of the contest on an unassisted bid immediately following the Buccaneer's first tally leading 8-1.
Massachusetts Maritime junior Will Doucette (Manchester, MA/Manchester-Essex) made it an 8-2 game on an unassisted goal 3:45 into the third stanza.
Broughton got back into the action offensively making it 9-2 on a feed from senior Paul Battapaglia (Clinton, CT/Morgan) with 10 minutes to go in the third frame.
The Buccaneer's notched their third goal of the contest on a score from senior Chris Davis (Hanover, MA/Hanover) on an assist from Bickley trailing 9-3 unable to keep pace with a surging Mount Ida offense.
Starting with three minutes remaining heading into the fourth quarter, Mount Ida reeled off four straight goals to solidify their non-conference victory on goals from Savage, Saunders, sophomore Nick Maurais (Peabody, MA/Peabody), and freshman Zachary Rosen (East Greenwich, RI/St. Andrew's School) to pull ahead 13-3 midway through the fourth quarter. Two of the goals were unassisted bid and the other two came on feeds from Battapaglia and sophomore Mike Durand (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry).
The visitors scored the final goal of the contest on an unassisted score from Bickley concluding the 13-4 victory for the Mustangs.
Mount Ida held the advantage in most of the statistical categories scooping up 48 ground balls to the Buccaneers 42. The Mustang nearly doubled their opponent shots at 43-23. The middle circle was edged by Mount Ida going 11-19 while the Buccaneers caromed eight face-off wins. Mustang junior Sean Slattery (South Burlington, VT/South Burlington) grabbed 7-15 face-offs.
Maurais and junior's Carl Grimo (Bristol, RI/LaSalle Academy) and Riley O'Brien (North Kingstown, RI/North Kingstown) scooped up four groundballs each for the hosts.
Both goaltenders were outstanding with Mount Ida junior Jimmy McAllister (Smithfield, RI/LaSalle Academy) denying 12 visiting shots. Mustang sophomore Chandler Webb (Newton, MA/Bishop Hendricken (RI)) saw the last four minutes notching two stops. Freshman Jack Murphy (Cohasset, MA/Cohasset) took the loss for the Buccaneers but was impressive careening 19 saves.
The Mustangs will host GNAC neighboring rival Lasell College Wednesday afternoon with game time slated for 4:00 p.m.