NEWTON, Mass. – Mount Ida College will make their fourth appearance in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse title game on Saturday afternoon and will try to win their first championship in three years when they travel to top seed and defending champions Emmanuel College.
The title game between the #2 seed Mustangs (11-4, 7-1 GNAC) and the Saints (12-4, 8-0 GNAC) will be played at Roberto Clemente Field on the Fenway in Boston at 1:00 pm.
The winner will earn the conference's automatic bid to next month's NCAA Division 3 men's lacrosse tournament.
Historic Notes
This is the sixth meeting between the two programs, with Mount Ida holding a 3-2 advantage but Emmanuel winning each of the last two contests. That includes a 13-1 victory for the Saints in Boston last year and a 13-5 win in Newton on March 21st of this season.
The teams have met once before in the GNAC postseason, as the Mustangs defeated Emmanuel 10-3 in the quarterfinal round en route to their last GNAC championship in 2012.
How they Got Here
Mount Ida has won ten straight games coming into Saturday's championship, and they came from a goal down on five occasions to beat Norwich 6-5 in Thursday's semifinal matchup at Alumni Field. Junior Lucas Stralka (E. Greenwich, R.I.) scored five goals, including the game-winner, the only goal either team scored in the fourth quarter. Freshman Cam Hayward (Derry, N.H.) was outstanding in net, making 11 saves, including one at the final horn to preserve the one goal lead.
Emmanuel also got the benefit of a first round bye in the tournament after securing a perfect 8-0 record in GNAC play this year. In their semifinal game, they trailed Lasell College by a goal at halftime, but outscored the Lasers 7-3 after the break and got a hat trick from Jake Jaskolski (St. Clair Shores, Mich.) and eight saves from Austin Lauzier (Bedford, N.H.).
The defending champions defeated Becker in last year's GNAC championship before falling to eventual national champion Tufts University 24-2 in the NCAA first round.
Who to Watch
Stralka and Wyatt Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.) (25 goals) lead the squad in scoring, while Chad Coehlo (Salem, Mass.) is tenth in the conference with 15 assists.
Freshman Alex Zito (Marlboro, Conn.) has gone 128/219 (58.4%) on face-offs this year and leats Mount Ida with 64 ground balls, and junior Steven Kozisi (Peabody, Mass.) has caused a team-high 21 turnovers.
Hayward and sophomore Tyler McElreath (Upton, Mass.) have combined for a 7.91 goals against average as a team.
The Saints cause the most turnovers of any conference team, led by sophomore Chris Baglivi (Mattituck, N.Y.), who is second in the conference with 42 caused turnovers. Senior Jake Pickett (Stratham, N.H.) is third in the conference with 91 ground balls and is 143/247 (57.9) on face-off attempts.
Offensively, the tandem of Chris Curtis (Ashland, Mass.) and Tony Cibelli (Westboro, Mass.) are second and third in the conference with 37 and 36 goals, respectively.
Lauzier has made 129 saves and has a goals against average of 8.00.
How to Watch
The game can be watched live at Roberto Clemente field on the Fenway in Boston. Parking is available at the Emmanuel College parking lot off of the Fens.
Currently only live stats will be available to follow the championship game online.
Live Stats: http://www.mountidamustangs.com/sports/mlax/2014-15/boxscores/20150425_29i7.xml
2015 GNAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament
First Round - Tuesday, April 21
Game 1: #4 Lasell 21, #5 Rivier 8
Game 2: #6 Norwich 7, #3 Johnson & Wales 6
Semifinals - Thursday, April 23
Game 3: #1 Emmanuel 9, #4 Lasell 6
Game 4: #2 Mount Ida 6, #6 Norwich 5
Championship - Saturday, April 25
Game 5: #2 Mount Ida at #1 Emmanuel - 1:00 p.m.