Greg Antonelli
Mount Ida Athletic Communications
Saturday, April 30, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – The
Mount Ida College men’s lacrosse program (11-7, 7-0 GNAC)
scored six unanswered goals through the first quarter and a half of
play en route to their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference
(GNAC) championship over visiting Lasell College (9-8, 6-1 GNAC)
winning 9-6 Saturday afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts. The
Mustangs are the first program at the College to capture a GNAC
title since the school joined the conference four years ago adding
to their previous six league titles as a member of the North
Atlantic Conference (NAC) from 2004-2009.
Mount Ida senior captain Dan Harrington (Westford, MA/Westford
Academy) was selected as the tournament’s
Most-Valuable-Player tallying two goals and two assists in the
championship contest. Mount Ida junior goaltender and GNAC
Defensive Player-of-the-Year James McAllister (Smithfield,
RI/LaSalle Academy), junior defender Carl Grimo (Bristol,
RI/LaSalle Academy) and senior defender Billy Eagan (North Andover,
MA/North Andover) were selected to the All-Tournament team.
Lasell senior goaltender Eric Walsh (Weymouth, MA/Weymouth),
sophomore long stick midfielder Matthew Keiler (Salem, MA/Salem)
and freshman GNAC Rookie-of-the-Year Dylan Fernandes (Billerica,
MA/Billerica) were the Lasers honored with an All-Tournament team
selection.
Mustang junior netminder Jimmy McAllister was impressive
denying nine Lasell shots while Laser goaltender Eric Walsh turned
away 10 Mount Ida attempts.
Mount Ida senior attacker and GNAC Offensive
Player-of-the-Year Matthew Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody) tallied the
first goal of the game in the opening three and a half minutes on a
feed from fellow senior Paul Battipaglia (Clinton, CT/Morgan) for
the 1-0 advantage.
Freshman midfielder Zachary Rosen (East Greenwich, RI/St.
Andrew’s School) made it 2-0 five minutes later off a dish
from sophomore Mike Durand (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry).
Battipaglia followed less than a minute later on a ripped shot in
the top left corner making it 3-0 off a sophomore Nick Yacuzzi
(Worcester, MA/St. John’s-Shrewsbury) assist.
Harrington finished the first quarter with an unassisted bid
giving Mount Ida a commanding lead up 4-0 heading into the second
stanza.
Junior Zach Jacobson (Shoreview, MN/Moundsview) got in on the
offense converting an impressive crank shot from the top of the key
on a man-up goal off a Harrington feed going ahead 5-0 in begin the
second frame.
Two and a half minutes later, Savage would convert his second
and final goal of the contest on a dish from Rosen finishing the
six goal run to lead 6-0 with nine minutes to go before the midway
point.
With just over a minute to go before halftime, the Lasers
converted a man-up opportunity on an unassisted score from
sophomore Dylan Gray (Bayport, NY/Bayport-Blue Point) making it 6-1
Mount Ida heading into the locker room.
The Mustangs opening the third quarter inflating their lead to
8-1 starting with an unassisted goal from Harrington followed by a
score from junior Brendan Hylan (Clinton, CT/Morgan) from a
Harrington dish.
Lasell never gave up and would eventually cut the Mustang
advantage down to three scoring four consecutive goals starting
with another tally from Gray on a feed from senior attacker Sean
Speciale (Hillborough, NJ/Hillborough) trailing 8-3. Gray
returned the favor assisting Speciale on the next goal that came on
a man-up opportunity pulling within four down 8-4.
Lasell freshman midfielder Nick Sampson (Londonderry,
NH/Londonderry) and senior midfielder Chris Bulkley (Groton,
CT/Fitch) scored the final two goals of the run for the Lasers,
both unassisted bids, in the opening of the fourth quarter pulling
within three of Mount Ida trialing 8-5.
The Mustangs took the wind out of Lasell’s sails with
9:45 remaining in the contest on a Battipaglia tally off a dish
from Savage pulling away at 9-5. The Lasers notched the final
goal of the contest with eight minutes to go before the final horn
on Sampson’s second goal of the game down 9-6. The
Mustangs played keep away for the remainder of the contest sealing
their first ever GNAC championship.
Mount Ida continued to struggle in the middle circle going
7-19 while the Lasers controlled the face-offs at 12-19.
Senior face-off specialist Anthony Erz (Hampton, NJ/Voorhees) won 8
of 12 attempts in the middle circle for the Lasers. The
Mustangs was outshot 36-26 on the day.
The Mount Ida defense was impressive led by Carl Grimo who
stripped three caused turnovers scooping up one ground ball while
sophomore Nick Maurais (Peabody, MA/Peabody) picked up two.
Mustang senior Billy Eagan added three groundballs as
well.
GNAC
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
TOURNAMENT MVP
Mount Ida – Senior – Dan Harrington (Westford,
MA/Westford Academy)
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Mount Ida – Junior – James McAllister (Smithfield,
RI/LaSalle Academy)
Mount Ida – Junior – Carl Grimo (Bristol, RI/LaSalle
Academy)
Mount Ida – Senior – Billy Eagan (North Andover,
MA/North Andover)
Lasell – Senior – Eric Walsh (Weymouth,
MA/Weymouth)
Lasell – Sophomore – Matthew Keiler (Salem,
MA/Salem)
Lasell – Freshman – Dylan Fernandes (Billerica,
MA/Billerica)
St. Joseph’s (ME) – Sophomore – Christopher
Driscoll (Saco, ME/Thornton Academy)
St. Joseph’s (ME) – Freshman – Zachary Chaisson
(Concord, NH/Bishop Brady)
Norwich – Sophomore – Joseph Gallante (Framingham,
MA/Framingham)
Norwich – Sophomore – Nathan Fortezzo (Branford,
CT/Branford)
