MOUNT IDA MEN'S LACROSSE CAPTURES SECOND STRAIGHT GNAC TITLE SUNDAY 7-4
Sunday, April 29, 2012 (Newton, Massachusetts) - In the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men’s lacrosse title game Sunday afternoon, Mount Ida College (15-4, 8-1 GNAC) ninth year Head Coach Andrew Fink and his second seeded squad captured a 7-4 victory over visiting fourth seed Norwich University (12-7, 6-3 GNAC) for their second consecutive GNAC title win. The Mustangs will venture into their fourth ever trip to the NCAA tournament in a week and a half’s time with their opponent to be announced. The title victory was also their 15th of 2012 breaking the all-time record for wins in a season set back in 2006 also skippered by Fink.
Sunday, April 29, 2012 (Newton, Massachusetts) - In the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men’s lacrosse title game Sunday afternoon, Mount Ida College (15-4, 8-1 GNAC) ninth year Head Coach Andrew Fink and his second seeded squad captured a 7-4 victory over visiting fourth seed Norwich University (12-7, 6-3 GNAC) for their second consecutive GNAC title win. The Mustangs will venture into their fourth ever trip to the NCAA tournament in a week and a half’s time with their opponent to be announced. The title victory was also their 15th of 2012 breaking the all-time record for wins in a season set back in 2006 also skippered by Fink.
With Norwich leading 3-2 with two and a half minutes to go in the second quarter, the Mustangs recorded five unanswered goals through almost the entire second half only surrendering one more goal in the game to solidify the championship. Mount Ida sophomore face-off specialist Kyle Danehy (Marlborough, MA/Marlborough) was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) dominating the middle circle going 9-14 for the day with a team-high seven ground balls.
Senior’s Jimmy McAllister, (GK, Smithfield, RI/LaSalle Academy), Carl Grimo (D, Bristol, RI/LaSalle Academy) and Riley O’Brien (D, North Kingstown, RI/North Kingstown) and junior midfielder Ryan Tirelli (M, Yorktown, NY/Yorktown) rounded out the rest of the GNAC All-Tournament team for the Mustangs while junior midfielder Nate Fortezzo (Branford, CT/Branford) and sophomore’s Ian Mendoza (Mount Airy, MD/Urbana) and Mark Paradiso (GK, Westford, MA/Westford Academy) were selected for Norwich.
The rest of the GNAC All-Tournament team was completed by one seed Lasell College junior attacker Dylan Gray (Bayport, NY/Bayport-Blue Point) and senior midfielder Adam Foss (Billerica, MA/Billerica) and third seeded Anna Maria College senior defender Brad Peterson (North Kingstown, RI/North Kingstown) and freshman midfielder Joshua Smith (Mendon, MA/Nipmuc).
Mount Ida tallied the first two scores of the contest on unassisted scores from junior defender Nick Maurias (Peabody, MA/Peabody) and freshman attacker Michael Trocchi (Danvers, MA/Danvers) taking the 2-0 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
The visitors went on to notch the next three goals, starting early in the second stanza, on a man-up score (2-1) from Mendoza off a feed from freshman attacker Seth Fuller (Wheaton, IL/Wheaton Warrenville south). Cadet sophomore midfielder Andrew Dustin (Canterbury, NH/Tilton Academy) followed with an unassisted bid tying the game at 2-2. Mendoza hooked up with Fuller again giving the Cadets their first lead of the contest late in the second frame up 3-2.
Mount Ida ended the first half of play with two scores, both unassisted, with the first coming from Trocchi for his second tally of the contest tying the game at 3-3. Senior attacker Zach Jacobson (Shoreview, MN/Moundsview) added his first of two goals giving the hosts a 4-3 lead going into the break.
Mount Ida dominated the third quarter scoring two goals to pad their advantage going ahead 6-3. Senior Brendan Hylan (Clinton, CT/The Morgan School) collected a dish from Trocchi and fired a shot into the back of the net for the 5-3 lead. Junior midfielder Jake Davis (Chester, NH/Pinkerton Academy) gave the Mustangs a three goal (6-3) advantage a minute later on a feed from junior Gilson Fernandes (Saugus, MA/Saugus) heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was quiet offensively with only two goals scored, one from each side. Jacobson tallied his second goal of the game on an unassisted bid to go ahead 7-3 with three minutes left in the contest. It was all but over from there with Norwich senior midfielder Patrick Sikora (Montpelier, VT/U-32) scoring the final goal of the game with less than a minute to play. Mount Ida would slow down play with their next possession to solidify the 7-4 GNAC title victory.
Trocchi led the Mustangs with two goals and one assist while Jacobson added two scores as well. Hylan, Maurias and Davis all added one goal each while Fernandes chipped in one dish. For Norwich, Mendoza led the attack with two scores with Sikora and Dustin chipping in one a piece. Fuller added two assists respectively.
McAllister was between the pipes for Mount Ida and was impressive once again denying 15 Norwich shots with six groundballs. Paradiso, who was one of the main reasons why the Cadets were in the title game with solid play all through the post-season, stopped 13 Mustang shots.
Mount Ida will wait have to wait and see who they will face with selection’s coming a week from today (Sunday) for the NCAA selection show. Stay tuned for details and visit www.mountidamustangs.com for updates.