Saturday, April 30, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – The Mount Ida College men's lacrosse program (11-7, 7-0 GNAC) scored six unanswered goals through the first quarter and a half of play en route to their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship over visiting Lasell College (9-8, 6-1 GNAC) winning 9-6 Saturday afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs are the first program at the College to capture a GNAC title since the school joined the conference four years ago adding to their previous six league titles as a member of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) from 2004-2009.
Mount Ida senior captain Dan Harrington (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) was selected as the tournament's Most-Valuable-Player tallying two goals and two assists in the championship contest. Mount Ida junior goaltender and GNAC Defensive Player-of-the-Year James McAllister (Smithfield, RI/LaSalle Academy), junior defender Carl Grimo (Bristol, RI/LaSalle Academy) and senior defender Billy Eagan (North Andover, MA/North Andover) were selected to the All-Tournament team.
Lasell senior goaltender Eric Walsh (Weymouth, MA/Weymouth), sophomore long stick midfielder Matthew Keiler (Salem, MA/Salem) and freshman GNAC Rookie-of-the-Year Dylan Fernandes (Billerica, MA/Billerica) were the Lasers honored with an All-Tournament team selection.
Mustang junior netminder Jimmy McAllister was impressive denying nine Lasell shots while Laser goaltender Eric Walsh turned away 10 Mount Ida attempts.
Mount Ida senior attacker and GNAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year Matthew Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody) tallied the first goal of the game in the opening three and a half minutes on a feed from fellow senior Paul Battipaglia (Clinton, CT/Morgan) for the 1-0 advantage.
Freshman midfielder Zachary Rosen (East Greenwich, RI/St. Andrew's School) made it 2-0 five minutes later off a dish from sophomore Mike Durand (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry). Battipaglia followed less than a minute later on a ripped shot in the top left corner making it 3-0 off a sophomore Nick Yacuzzi (Worcester, MA/St. John's-Shrewsbury) assist.
Harrington finished the first quarter with an unassisted bid giving Mount Ida a commanding lead up 4-0 heading into the second stanza.
Junior Zach Jacobson (Shoreview, MN/Moundsview) got in on the offense converting an impressive crank shot from the top of the key on a man-up goal off a Harrington feed going ahead 5-0 in begin the second frame.
Two and a half minutes later, Savage would convert his second and final goal of the contest on a dish from Rosen finishing the six goal run to lead 6-0 with nine minutes to go before the midway point.
With just over a minute to go before halftime, the Lasers converted a man-up opportunity on an unassisted score from sophomore Dylan Gray (Bayport, NY/Bayport-Blue Point) making it 6-1 Mount Ida heading into the locker room.
The Mustangs opening the third quarter inflating their lead to 8-1 starting with an unassisted goal from Harrington followed by a score from junior Brendan Hylan (Clinton, CT/Morgan) from a Harrington dish.
Lasell never gave up and would eventually cut the Mustang advantage down to three scoring four consecutive goals starting with another tally from Gray on a feed from senior attacker Sean Speciale (Hillborough, NJ/Hillborough) trailing 8-3. Gray returned the favor assisting Speciale on the next goal that came on a man-up opportunity pulling within four down 8-4.
Lasell freshman midfielder Nick Sampson (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry) and senior midfielder Chris Bulkley (Groton, CT/Fitch) scored the final two goals of the run for the Lasers, both unassisted bids, in the opening of the fourth quarter pulling within three of Mount Ida trialing 8-5.
The Mustangs took the wind out of Lasell's sails with 9:45 remaining in the contest on a Battipaglia tally off a dish from Savage pulling away at 9-5. The Lasers notched the final goal of the contest with eight minutes to go before the final horn on Sampson's second goal of the game down 9-6. The Mustangs played keep away for the remainder of the contest sealing their first ever GNAC championship.
Mount Ida continued to struggle in the middle circle going 7-19 while the Lasers controlled the face-offs at 12-19. Senior face-off specialist Anthony Erz (Hampton, NJ/Voorhees) won 8 of 12 attempts in the middle circle for the Lasers. The Mustangs was outshot 36-26 on the day.
The Mount Ida defense was impressive led by Carl Grimo who stripped three caused turnovers scooping up one ground ball while sophomore Nick Maurais (Peabody, MA/Peabody) picked up two. Mustang senior Billy Eagan added three groundballs as well.
Congratulations to both teams on very successful seasons!
GNAC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
TOURNAMENT MVP
Mount Ida – Senior – Dan Harrington (Westford,
MA/Westford Academy)
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Mount Ida – Junior – James McAllister (Smithfield,
RI/LaSalle Academy)
Mount Ida – Junior – Carl Grimo (Bristol, RI/LaSalle
Academy)
Mount Ida – Senior – Billy Eagan (North Andover,
MA/North Andover)
Lasell – Senior – Eric Walsh (Weymouth,
MA/Weymouth)
Lasell – Sophomore – Matthew Keiler (Salem,
MA/Salem)
Lasell – Freshman – Dylan Fernandes (Billerica,
MA/Billerica)
St. Joseph's (ME) – Sophomore – Christopher Driscoll
(Saco, ME/Thornton Academy)
St. Joseph's (ME) – Freshman – Zachary Chaisson
(Concord, NH/Bishop Brady)
Norwich – Sophomore – Joseph Gallante (Framingham,
MA/Framingham)
Norwich – Sophomore – Nathan Fortezzo (Branford,
CT/Branford)