NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida allowed just one goal in the first two periods and staked themselves to an 8-1 lead and then held off Becker College for a 13-9 victory in non-conference men's lacrosse action on Monday afternoon at Alumni Field.
Mount Ida gets over the .500 mark for the first time this year, improving to 5-4 on the legs of a 6-1 first quarter in which they outshot the Hawks (2-7) by a 14-4 margin.
Junior Lucas Stralka (E. Greenwich, R.I.) scored a hat trick for the Mustangs, while sophomore Daniel Johnson (Plymouth, Mass.) did the same in a losing effort the Hawks.
Becker outscored the Mustangs 5-2 in the fourth quarter, including scoring four of the last five goals of the game in the final 5:07 of play, but could not claw their way back in enough time.
Mount Ida opened the scoring with a 6-0 run which saw Wyatt Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.) sandwich goals around a pair by Chad Coehlo (Salem, Mass.), before Austin Phillips (Haverhill, Mass.) and Stralka each struck as well.
Johnson got Becker on the board at 2:01 of the first period with a goal from Avyay Chaganty (Bridgewater, N.J.), who had two goals and an assist on the day, but Mount Ida scored the only two goals of the second period through Peter Hardy (Tyngsboro, Mass.) and Stralka to take a seven-goal lead into halftime.
Hardy opened the scoring for the Mustangs at 10:57 into the third but goals by Chaganty and Ryan Kearney (Katonah, N.Y.), who had just one marker but added four assists and 12 ground balls, cut the Mustang lead to 9-3.
Mount Ida would keep their advantage at seven goals, leading 11-4 heading into the fourth quarter, which started with a Becker goal by Matthew Genkos (Worcester, Mass.), which was answered less than 1:30 later by Mustang senior Joe Galante (Framingham, Mass.).
The Hawks began their climb back at 5:07 with a man down goal from Bryan Parsons (Shrewsbury, Mass.) and Johnson scored on either side of Stralka's final tally of the day, which came from Jon Berry (Chicester, N.H.), who also scored in the win for Mount Ida, who held on despite a goal from Becker freshman Blake Gordon (East Greenbush, N.Y.) with 1:26 left in the game.
The hosts had a 39-34 ground ball advantage in the game and faded a 12-8 shooting edge in the fourth quarter from the Hawks, giving Becker a 37-36 advantage in the game, with the help of 12 saves from sophomore Tyler McElreath (Upton, Mass.).
Becker sophomore Jeffrey Candee (Madison, Conn.) made eight saves but fell to 1-7 on the year in the Becker cage.
Mount Ida freshman Alex Zito (Marlboro, Conn.) went 7-15 at the face-off dot, while Erik Berman (Montcliar, N.J.) and Nate Barron (Florence, Mas.) each went 3-5 in his relief.
Junior Joel Clark (Colchester, Vt.) was 12-25 in handling all of the face-off duties for Becker.
Mustang junior Steven Koziski (Peabody, Mass.) led the team with three caused turnovers, while Kearney led all players by forcing six miscues for the Hawks.
Mount Ida continues the second half of their back to back when they travel to Anna Maria College tomorrow for a 7:00 PM Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game.
The Hawks look to right the ship on Thursday when they travel to the AMCATS themselves at 7:00 PM.