STANDISH, Maine – Mount Ida College (7-8, 2-4 GNAC) toppled Saint Joseph's College (5-10, 2-5 GNAC), 16-7, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse contest at Westerlea Way Field on Saturday afternoon.
Mount Ida all but assumed control of the contest by scoring six unanswered goals as part of a 10-1 run that ended with the Mustangs leading 10-2 with 13:50 left in the third quarter.
Senior attack Lucas Stralka (East Greenwich, R.I.) boasted three goals with an assist, six caused turnovers, and two ground balls, and junior midfielder Peter Hardy (Tyngsboro, Mass.) scored three goals with three ground balls.
Mike Markevich (Westminster, Mass.) scored three times as well for the Mustangs, while junior Wyatt Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.), junior Chad Coehlo (Salem, Mass.), and senior Chris Kidger (Groton, Mass.) produced a goal and an assist apiece.
Sophomore Alex Zito (Marlboro, Conn.) won 19 of 26 face-off attempts and picked up a game-high 10 ground balls.
Saint Joseph's struck first as senior Jake O'Brien (Andover, Mass.) netted an unassisted marker 3:23 into the game. O'Brien finished the contest with a goal and three assists to his credit, and freshman Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) netted three goals in the loss.
Monks sophomore Brendan Barrett (East Sandwich, Mass.) chipped in with a goal and an assist and sophomore midfielder Austin Havu (Buxton, Maine) won five of 19 face-off attempts.
In net, sophomore Cam Hayward (Derry, N.H.) made five stops for the Mustangs, while classmate Connor Trainor (Franklin, Mass.) stopped 10 Mount Ida shots in a losing effort.
Mount Ida held advantages in shots (52-17), ground balls (36-24), face-offs (19-8), caused turnovers (15-8) and turnovers (19-29) on the afternoon.
With the win, the Mustangs improve to 9-0 in the history of the series after winning by a similar score (17-7) in Newton last spring.
Both teams resume play hosting GNAC opponents on Wednesday, as Saint Joseph's concludes the regular season with a home game versus Emmanuel College starting at 4:00 PM and Mount Ida takes on Albertus Magnus College in a 6:00 PM start.