Saturday, March 24, 2012 (Boston, Massachusetts) - The Mount Ida College men's lacrosse team captured a 13-3 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory opening league play Saturday afternoon in Boston, Massachusetts against hosting Emmanuel College behind a three goal, one assist performance from junior attacker Nick Yacuzzi (Worcester, MA/St. John's-Shrewsbury).
The Mustangs improve to an overall record of 4-3 and start GNAC action undefeated with a 1-0 slate while the hosting Saints fall to 3-3 for the year and are winless (0-1) conference competition.
Emmanuel held the Mustang's potent offense to just one score in the opening quarter, a strike coming from sophomore Kyle Cordaro (Worcester, MA/Hebron Academy) at the 7:27 mark to give the visitors the 1-0 edge. The Saints had a few solid opportunities to even the score in the first but were stonewalled by Mustangs senior goalie James McAllister (Smithfield, RI/LaSalle Academy).
In the second quarter, Mount Ida outscored the Saints 5-0 to take control of the action and make it a 6-0 contest heading into halftime. Freshman attacker Michael Trocchi (Danvers, MA/Danvers) made it 2-0 with his fourth goal of the season at the 12:37 mark before Yaccuzi netted his first goal of the afternoon on a man-up opportunity when he was fed by sophomore attackman Zach Rosen (East Greenwich, RI/St. Andrews School) to make it 3-0 with 10:35 left in the half. Senior middie Brendan Hylan (Clinton, CT/The Morgan School) made it 4-0 with his second goal of the year coming off an assist by junior Gilson Fernandes (Saugus, MA/Saugus) with just under five minutes remaining. Rosen got into the scoring column at the 3:41 mark to make it 5-0, finishing a pass from Trocchi before Yacuzzi rounded out the half's scoring with an unassisted tally with 43 seconds left of the clock to make it 6-0 heading into the intermission.
The Mustangs would add to their lead with the first goal of the third quarter coming off an unassisted marker from junior middie Jake Davis (Chester, NH/Pinkerton Academy) 2:37 into the half to give Ida a 7-0 cushion. The Saints would find the scoring column at the 9:57 mark when freshman attacker Josh Condry (Upton, MA) found the back of the net with his eight goal of the season to pull EC to within 7-1 but it would be the closest the hosts would come as Mount Ida rolled off the next three scores to pull ahead, 10-1. Yacuzzi started the string of goals with his third of the afternoon coming off a Davis assist at the 9:11 mark before Fernandes made it 9-1 with his team-leading 11th goal of the year. Rosen was able to finish a Trocchi feed with 4:57 left to play in the third to make it 10-1 before Emmanuel was able to wrap up the quarters scoring as freshman attacker Evan Dolber (Malden, MA) was able to beat McAllister with a slow bounce shot that found its way into the upper left hand corner of the net to make it 10-2.
Fernandes opened the fourth quarter with his second goal of the game with the help of a Yacuzzi dime just 31 tics into the period to give the Mustangs the 11-2 cushions. Mount Ida senior attacker Ian Saunders (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls) found his way into the scoring column with his first goal of the season with 2:43 left in the action to pad the lead to 12-2 before Emmanuel was able to net its final goal of the contest with 1:01 left as freshman midfielder Jake Pickett (Stratham, NH) notched his third goal of the campaign, cutting the Mustangs lead to 12-3. Mount Ida would respond with the game's final tally on the ensuing faceoff as sophomore midfielder Kyle Danehy (Marlborough, MA/Marlborough) was able to control the face and take it directly in for the unassisted score to account for the 13-3 final.
McAllister was solid all afternoon for the Mustangs in net, making eight stops while Emmanuel freshman netminder Austin Lauzier (Bedford, NH) recorded a season-best 17 saves in the loss.
The Mustangs will host their second GNAC bid Wednesday afternoon with game time slated for 4:00 p.m. against visiting Anna Maria College.