Saturday, March 10, 2012 (Dartmouth, Massachusetts) - Leading 4-2 at halftime, the Mount Ida College men's lacrosse team surrendered six scores in the third quarter of play to hosting UMASS-Dartmouth relinquishing their advantage never to recover falling 10-9 Saturday afternoon.
The Mustangs, who saw an impressive game-high five goals from junior Gilson Fernandes Jr. (Saugus, MA/Saugus), fall to an overall record of 1-3 and have yet to compete in a scheduled Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest.
Through the first quarter and a half of play, Mount Ida would lead 4-1 with all four goals coming off the stick of Fernandes Jr. with less than eight minutes to go before the midway point.
The Corsairs cut the deficit to 4-2 just before halftime with a goal from sophomore attacker Adam Niden (Walpole, MA/Walpole) off a pass from freshman attacker Connor Gaffney (Andover, MA/Andover).
UMASS-Dartmouth dead locked the game at 4-4 with 13:02 to play in the third quarter with goals from Gaffney and sophomore Justin Lawless (Quincy, MA/Archbishop Williams).
Sophomore midfielder J.T. Hoyt (Westfield, MA/Westfield) put Mount Ida back on top with a score at the 8:43 mark in the third quarter leading 5-4.
The Corsairs reeled off three consecutive goals in under three minutes immediately following from freshman midfielder Riley Baxter (Groton, MA/Groton-Dunstable), senior midfielder Christian Roberto (Wakefield, MA/Malden Catholic) and senior attacker Nick Brett (Loudon, NH/Merrimack/AIC), giving the hosts a 7-5 lead with 5:02 remaining in the third stanza. Each team added a goal in the final minutes of the third, making the score 8-6 going into the final frame.
Fernandes Jr. opened the fourth quarter with his fifth and final goal of the contest followed by senior midfielder Brendan Hylan's (Clinton, CT/The Morgan School) first goal of the season tying the game at eight all (8-8) with 11 minutes left.
The visitors notched the next two scores of the game on goals from Gaffney sophomore attacker Adam Niden (Walpole, MA/Walpole) leading 10-8 with 8:20 remaining in the contest.
Mount Ida cut the lead to one trailing 10-9 with 3:46 to go in the game on junior Nick Yacuzzi's (Worcester, MA/St. John's-Shrewsbury) only tally of the game. The Mustangs had trouble slicing through the Corsairs strong defense at the end of the contest eventually taking the 10-9 non-league loss.
Senior netminder Jimmy McAllister (Smithfield, RI/LaSalle Academy) made 13 saves for the Mustangs while Corsair goaltender Nick Thayer (Chelmsford, MA/Chelmsford) denied 10 Mount Ida shots.
The Mustangs will host their first home game of the 2012 season against visiting non-conference foe Salem State University Saturday afternoon with game time slated for 1:00 p.m.