NEWTON, Mass. – As they did after their first Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse defeat of the year, Mount Ida righted the ship after suffering a conference loss and turned in an important 6-5 victory over Saint Joseph's College on Wednesday night at Alumni Field.
After falling to Emmanuel their last time out, Mount Ida (8-5, 5-2 GNAC) shored up their spot in the conference table by scoring twice in the fourth quarter to hold off Saint Joseph's (4-6, 3-4 GNAC).
Freshman Wyatt Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.) scored three times for Mount Ida, while classmate Chad Coehlo (Salem, Mass.) notched two goals and an assist, including potting the eventual game-winner with 10:29 left to play in the game.
Junior Kyle Fernitz (Northbrook, Ill.) caused five turnovers and grabbed three ground balls for Mount Ida, and he came up with a big stop in the final seconds of the game with the Monks in the offensive end.
Midfielder Jake Ricciardi (Sharon, Mass.) scored a pair of goals for the Monks, opening the scoring with 6:00 to play in the first quarter and ending the game with a goal five minutes from the final horn, which pulled Saint Joseph's back to within a goal after Sullivan and Coehlo had broken a 4-4 tie in the early stages of the fourth.
Coehlo got his first goal of the game just seconds before the end of the first quarter, and the teams went to the first break knotted at one.
Within four minutes, Saint Joseph's had grabbed the lead thanks to goals by Andrew Sullivan (Rochester, N.H.) and Dalton Eldridge (South Gardiner, Maine).
Senior Zach Rosen (East Greenwich, R.I.) started the three-goal run for the Mustangs that sent Mount Ida to halftime with a 4-3 edge. Sullivan scored the last two goals of the half, with the second on an assist by freshman Zach Davis (Old Saybrook, Conn.).
Eldridge tied the game with his second goal of the night, and the only score of the third quarter, coming at 7:35 left in the period.
Sullivan (13:13) re-gave the Mustangs the lead on a feed from Coehlo, and then freshman Jon Berry (Chichester, N.H.) found Coehlo who turned in his second goal of the night to give the hosts a 6-4 edge with 10:29 to play.
The visitors had a 34-25 edge in shots, but saw Mount Ida goalie Kyle Cordaro (Worcester, Mass.) turn away 13 attempts on goal. Saint Joseph's netminder, junior Ethan Rettew (Ephrata, Pa.) stopped ten shots.
The hosts also had a 22-17 advantage in ground balls, mostly thanks to the work of freshman Billy Cooke (Pelham, N.H.), who had six caused turnovers and grabbed a game-high eight ground balls, and a 16-15 margin in successful clears, with each team having 22 clearing attempts.
Junior Chaz Strom (North Grafton, Mass.) had four ground balls and a caused turnover in the Mount Ida victory.
Mount Ida hits the road for two very important GNAC contests, starting on April 12th at Norwich and continuing with a trip to Becker on April 16th.
The first of those two games will take place at 1:00 pm in Northfield, Vt.
The Monks continue their southward journey to Johnson & Wales on Saturday with a 3:00 pm showdown with the Wildcats.
COURTESY OF MOUNT IDA COLLEGE SPORTS INFORMATION
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Saint Joseph's College is Maine's only Catholic liberal arts college, providing a supportive, personalized and career-focused education for more than 100 years. From its 430-acre campus on the shores of Sebago Lake, the College offers more than 40 undergraduate programs to a population of approximately 1,000 students. Saint Joseph's College Online provides certificates, undergraduate and advanced degrees for working adults through an online learning program. For more, visit www.sjcme.edu.
