STANDISH, Maine – Mount Ida College (3-6, 2-0 GNAC) edged Saint Joseph's College (4-6, 0-2 GNAC), 7-5, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse contest at the SJC Athletics Complex on Saturday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
With the help of man-up goals from freshmen Glenn Dion (Pembroke, N.H.) and Shane Puleo (Nashua, N.H.), the Monks held a 3-1 advantage after the first 15 minutes of play, but the Mustangs tallied four unanswered goals – including man-up strikes from juniors Kyle Ton (Norwich, Conn.) and Matt Curran (Abington, Mass.) – to grab a 5-3 lead heading into halftime.
St. Joe's scored the only third-quarter goal, a man-up tally from junior Michael Finn (Quincy, Mass.) off a Raymond Emery (Abington, Mass.) long pass, to make it a 5-4 game, but freshman Roman Dennis (Lewiston, Maine) scored almost immediately in the fourth quarter to extend his team's cushion back up to two goals and Ton hit pay dirt again with 8:33 left to provide the Mustangs with a 7-4 lead.
Applying plenty of pressure late (the Monks outshot the Mustangs, 18-3, in the fourth quarter), Saint Joseph's closed the gap with a goal from senior Matt Donnell (Watertown, Mass.) at the 6:11 mark, but Mount Ida senior keeper Cam Hayward (Derry, N.H.) made six saves and the Monks missed the target with five attempts in the closing six minutes.
THE KEEPERS:
Saint Joseph's senior Connor Trainor (Franklin, Mass.) tallied 10 saves in the setback while Hayward posted 20 stops for the visitors.
TEAM STATS:
Saint Joseph's held the advantage in shots (50-33) and face-off wins (9-15) while Mount Ida posted a 40-39 edge in ground balls on the afternoon. Six of the 12 goals scored today were of the man-up variety, as the Monks were 4-7 in extra-man situations and the Mustangs found the back of the net on two of four power play scenarios.
LEADERS – SAINT JOSEPH'S:
- Finn scored a goal with an assist, two ground balls, and two caused turnovers
- Puleo tallied a goal and an assist with three ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers
- Senior Liam Skinner (Irving, Texas) scooped up a game-high eight ground balls
- Sophomore Shane Fors (Kalamazoo, Mich.) won nine of 15 face-off attempts with four ground balls
- Senior Tom Lisiecki (South Boston, Mass.) picked up five ground balls with three caused turnovers
LEADERS – MOUNT IDA:
- Ton scored twice on seven shots
- Freshman Mike Alibrandi (Holliston, Mass.) scored a goal with five ground balls
- Sophomore AJ Yarrow (Middletown, R.I.) added three ground balls and five caused turnovers
- Dennis chipped in with a goal with two ground balls and went 4-8 on face-off bids
HISTORICALLY SPEAKING:
With the loss, Saint Joseph's falls to 0-11 in the history of the series with Mount Ida College.
NEXT!
Saint Joseph's will host Emmanuel College Wednesday in a GNAC contest slated to begin at 7:00 PM.
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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 474-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.
