NEWTON, Mass. – The Mount Ida College men's lacrosse team scored 8 of the first 10 goals of the contest against the visiting Vikings from Salem State University on Wednesday afternoon en route a 14-6 non-conference victory on Alumni Field.
Mustang leading goal scorer Lucas Stralka (E. Greenwich, R.I.) opened up the scoring for the hosts at the 8:51 mark of the opening quarter before teammate Chad Coehlo (Salem, Mass.) scored his sixth goal of the season a little over a minute later to give the Mustangs the early 2-0 cushion.
Along with Stralka and Coehlo, the Mustangs had two other players tally two goals in the team's second consecutive win. Junior Jon Berry (Chichester, N.H.) rifled home two of his own to the upper corner of the goal while also padding three assists.
Alex Veloukas (Salem, Mass.), Matt Hoffman (Brewster, N.Y.), Wyatt Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.), Kyle Ton (Norwich, Conn.), Mike Markevich (Westminster, Mass.), Marcus Donohue (Braintree, Mass.), Trevor Hendrix (Grafton, Mass.) and Chris Kidger (Groton, Mass.) all pitched in with a goal apiece while Kidger, Donohue, Cole Davis (Chester, N.H.), Markevich, Peter Hardy (Tyngsboro, Mass.), and Sullivan all tallied one dime each; Stralka finished with two assists in the game.
The Vikings were led by Alex Pearsons (Burlington, Mass.) who recorded a hat trick for the visitors while starters Jacob Scordato (Milford, Mass.) and David Dempsey (Tewksbury, Mass.) each tallied a goal apiece with Dempsey totaling two helpers. Coming off the bench, Chris Santaniello (E. Longmeadow, Mass.) recorded his 4th goal of the year with just two seconds remaining in the contest.
Donohue opened the scoring with his 7th marker of the season in the second quarter before Pearsons cut into the Mustang lead at 3-1 at the 10:59 mark.
A little over two and a half minutes later, Berry rocketed home his first goal of the game while Mount Ida went on to score five of the next seven goals to end the half while taking the five goal advantage into the break at 8-3.
Berry struck again to open the third quarter before the Mustangs scored the next three goals off tallies by Coehlo, Sullivan and Markevich to put Mount Ida in the driver's seat, 12-3.
The fourth quarter began with the Vikings getting on the board first with a Dempsey tally, his fifth of the season, before Ton notched his first goal of the year for the Mustangs by extending the lead to 13-4. Hendrix also put his first goal away for the Mustangs but then saw the visitors score twice in the last thirty seconds of the contest to end the game.
Mustang keeper Cam Hayward (Derry, N.H.) picked up his third win of the season for Mount Ida (3-2) while Kevin Lally (Beverly, Mass.) dropped his first game of the year for the Vikings (3-1).
Salem State outshot the Mustangs 43-35 while also adding ten more ground balls at 41-31. Mount Ida went 9 of 22 from the dot while the Vikings were 13-22 and the Mustangs held the advantage in clears, 21 out of 23 compared to 9 out of 10 for Salem State.
The Mustangs hit the road again this coming Saturday when they travel to Vermont to take on Castleton State with game time slated for 2:00 PM. The Vikings are back in action on Saturday as well when they host Curry College with that game set to begin at 12:00.