Newton, Mass. (4/20/13) – The Lasell College men's lacrosse team dropped a triple overtime thriller on Saturday afternoon at Mount Ida, falling 9-8 in their Great Northeast Athletic Conference regular season finale. The Mustangs improved to 9-7 overall and 8-1 in conference play while the Lasers dropped to 8-7 on the year and 7-2 in the GNAC.
Dylan Fernandes (Billerica, Mass.) netted a pair of goals and one assist for Lasell, while Casey Sullivan (Waterford, Conn.) and Aaron LaPorte (Gorham, Maine) each scored twice for Lasell. Andy Puopolo (Duxbury, Mass.) added a goal and an assist in the contest, while Joe Cunning (Newton, Mass.) scored once and Robbie Palazzo (Redding, Conn.) notched an assist. David Walen (Longmeadow, Mass.) made 16 saves while taking the loss in net for Lasell.
Michael Markevich (Westminster, Mass.) scored four goals to pace the Mustangs, while Mike Trocchi (Danvers, Mass.) chipped in with two goals and four assists in the victory. Nick Yacuzzi (Oakham, Mass.) added a goal and an assist for the hosts, and Craig Bray (New Canaan, Conn.) earned the win in goal after finishing with 15 saves in the contest. The Mustangs gained a big edge from the face-off dot as Will Krach (Agawam, Mass.) won 16 out of 21 face-offs for Mount Ida.
Lasell opened the scoring in the first period when LaPorte finished a feed from Fernandez with 10 minutes remaining in the quarter to go up 1-0. Sullivan scored on a pass from Puopolo with 1:45 left in the first to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.
An unassisted goal by Puopolo just over five minutes into the second quarter saw the Lasers push their advantage to 3-0. Cunning scored on a Palazzo feed with 5:53 on the clock in the second period, and LaPorte added an unassisted goal 44 seconds later to give Lasell a 5-0 lead with 5:09 left in the half.
Trocchi notched an unassisted goal with 1:12 remaining in the half for Mount Ida and a Yacuzzi tally with 39 seconds before intermission gave the hosts some life as they went to the break trailing 5-2.
Markevich then came to life for Mount Ida, scoring three times in the opening seven minutes of the third quarter to knot the game at 5-5. Phil Pichel (Hopkinton, Mass.) gave Mount Ida a 6-5 lead when he finished a feed from Trocchi with 5:45 to play in the third quarter.
An unassisted goal by Lasell's Fernandes with 2:12 left in the third tied the contest briefly at 6-6, but Trocchi answered right back with an unassisted goal of his own a minute later to give the Mustangs a 7-6 lead heading into the fourth period.
Fernandes knotted the game at 7-7 with an unassisted goal with 11:42 left in the contest, but Markevich pushed Mount Ida back in front at 8-7 when he netted his fourth goal of the day with 9:19 to play.
Casey Sullivan got Lasell back level with 3:02 remaining with an unassisted strike, and the two teams headed into extra time tied at 8-8.
Lasell held a 7-4 edge in shots through the first two overtimes, but both teams failed to net the game winner and the crosstown rivals headed into their third overtime period still knotted at 8-8. The Lasers failed to convert on a scoring attempt just 21 seconds into play in the third overtime, and after a timeout Mount Ida's JT Hoyt (Westfield, Mass.) took a feed from Trocchi and beat Walen to give Mount Ida the 9-8 victory.
Mount Ida clinched the #2 seed in the GNAC tournament which will begin on Tuesday afternoon, and third seeded Lasell will host a quarterfinal game on Tuesday April 24th at 3:30 p.m. against sixth seeded Becker College.