Saturday, March 17, 2012 (Newton, Massachusetts) - The Mount Ida College men's lacrosse team captured a 7-6 non-league victory this Saturday in their home opener over visiting Salem State College snapping a two game losing streak in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs saw a team-high three goals and one assist from junior midfielder Nick Yacuzzi (Worcester, MA/St. John's-Shrewsbury).
The hosts improve to an overall record of 2-3 and have yet to compete in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contest with another non-league bid approaching this Wednesday at New England College with game time slated for 4:00 p.m.
Mount Ida opened with an unorthodox score coming from defenseman and senior captain Carl Grimo (Bristol, RI/LaSalle Academy) on a successful clear attempt and eventually assist by senior goaltender Jimmy McAllister (Smithfield, RI/LaSalle Academy) for the 1-0 lead early in the first quarter.
The Vikings stalemated the score at 1-1 two minutes later on an unassisted score from senior attacker Nate Arminio (Reston, CA/South Lakes) for his first of a game-high four scores.
The Mustangs countered with two scores, the first from sophomore Kyle Cordaro (Worcester, MA/Hebron Academy) on a dish from freshman Michael Trocchi (Danvers, MA/Danvers) leading 2-1. Yacuzzi added an unassisted goal in the final ticks of the first quarter heading into the second stanza with the hosts holding a 3-1 advantage.
Arminio added his second on another unassisted bid trailing 3-2 with 9:17 to go before the midway point.
Mount Ida eventually scored the only other goal of the second frame, tallied by Yacuzzi from Trocchi, heading into the break with the hosts leading 4-2.
The Mustangs notched the first two scores of the third quarter on goals from sophomore Zach Rosen (East Greenwich, RI/St. Andrews School) fed by sophomore J.T. Hoyt (Westfield, MA/Westfield) up 5-2.
Senior attacker Ian Saunders (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls) added a man-up goal off a dish from Yacuzzi immediately following inflating the advantage to 6-2 early in the third frame.
Arminio added another unassisted bid with 11:39 to go in the third pulling within three down 6-3. Mount Ida countered with their last goal of the contest coming from Yacuzzi for his final score of the game up 7-3 halfway through the third stanza.
Five minutes prior to the fourth quarter the Vikings attempted a valiant comeback started by Arminio's final tally of the game cutting the lead to 7-4.
At the nine minute mark in the fourth frame Salem State junior Jesse Fentross (Tewksbury, MA/Tewksbury) made it a two goal game (7-5) off a feed from senior attacker Ryan Gendreau (Danvers, MA/Hamilton-Wenham) on a man-up opportunity.
With 4:25 to go in the contest, Gendreau added an unassisted man-up score after an unnecessary roughness penalty by the Mustangs cutting the lead to one (7-6).
Fortunately Mount Ida was able to stave off the Vikings through the final ticks of the contest. Mustang netminder McAllister denied a point blank shot in the final minutes of the contest to turn away a crucial opportunity to seal the victory.
McAllister was impressive between the pipes for the hosts stopping 10 Salem State shots to preserve the win. Viking freshman goaltender Nick Romeo (Salem, MA/Salem) made 11 stops for the visitors.
Mount Ida edged Salem State in the middle circle winning 10 of 17 faceoff's for the game all by sophomore Kyle Danehy (Marlborough, MA/Marlborough).
Grimo, Danehy and senior defenseman Riley O'Brien (North Kingstown, RI/North Kingstown) led the Mustangs with four groundballs each.