Box Score Saturday, April 25, 2009 - (Newton, Massachusetts) - In today's opening quarterfinal round of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) men's lacrosse tournament, Mount Ida College rolled over visiting Husson University 23-3 on a hot and humid Saturday afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs move on to the semifinal round and will host Maine Maritime Academy this coming Wednesday who beat Thomas College 12-5 today. Mount Ida improves to 11-6 overall, 9-1 in the NAC while the 2009 season road ends for the Eagles at 4-9, 3-7 in conference competition.
It was a big offensive day for the Mustangs who reeled off 17 consecutive goals for the first two quarters of the contest. The opening goal was scored in the first six seconds of the game by senior Craig Heintzelman (Windham, NH/Salem) who won the face-off, picked up the ground ball, and fired a shot past the goaltender for the 1-0 opening lead.
It only got better for Mount Ida after that, while senior Brett Conley (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Warde), Christopher Prophete (Waltham, MA/Waltham), and Anthony DiMarsico (Fairport, NY/Fairport) set the pace netting three goals a piece during the 17 goal stretch. Sophomore Paul Battapaglia (Clinton, CT/Morgan) added two while senior Alex Champagne (East Greenwich, RI/East Greenwich), junior Michael Simone (Dover, NH/St. Thomas Aquinas), sophomore's Derek Broughton (Peabody, MA/Peabody) and Dan Harrington (Westford, MA/Westford Academy), and freshman Billy Gerke (Essex, VT/Rice Memorial) all added one a piece during the two quarter offensive bludgeoning.
The visitors finally got on the board with 1:41 remaining in the second quarter on an unassisted goal by freshman Nick Brown (Sabbattus, ME/Oak Hill) making it 17-1 before the break.
The Mustangs started to lay back on the attack notching four consecutive scores to start the third quarter. Battapaglia, Conley, DiMarsico, and senior Leo Shidler (Peabody, MA/Peabody) all tallied one a piece making it 21-1 in favor of the Mustangs.
Husson added two immediately following the quick strike by Mount Ida starting with an unassisted goal by freshman Anthony Diaz (Brunswick, ME/Brunswick) making it 21-2 Mustangs. Freshman Ben Landry (Lewiston, ME/Lewiston) chalked up one more for the Eagles off a feed from Brown trailing 21-3 at the end of the third stanza.
The Mustangs added two more scores, the only goals by either team in the fourth quarter, to round out the contest. Sophomore Matthew Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody) and freshman Ian Saunders (Glens Falls, NY/Glens Falls) tallied the goals in the remaining minutes of the game for the 23-3 victory.
It was a huge day statistically for Mount Ida with Conley having the biggest tallying four goals and five assists good for nine points while teammate DiMarsico added four goals as well. Prophete and Battapaglia combined for six goals, three a piece, while Savage, Shidler, Heintzelman, Champagne, Gerke, Saunders, Broughton, Harrington, and Simone all added one a piece.
Although the Eagles struggled offensively, freshman goaltender Matt Linnell (Albion, ME/Lawrence) saw a lot of action between the pipes stopping 21 shots that came his way. Mount Ida junior Matt Vernik (Bethany, CT/Amity Regional) saw the first half for the Mustangs denying three shots while freshman Justin Famiglietti (Peabody, MA/Peabody) got second half duties blocking eight shots.
The Mustangs will host Maine Maritime Academy Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 in NAC semifinal action with the time to be announced. The Mustangs hosted the Mariners back on April 11th, 2009 winning 18-4.
