NEWTON, Mass. – Lasell College dropped a 12-9 decision to Mount Ida College in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) men's lacrosse matchup on Tuesday afternoon at Alumni Field.
The loss drops Lasell to 8-5 (5-3 GNAC) and will send the Lasers into the quarterfinal round, while the Mustangs' eight straighth win improves Ida to 6-1 in the conference (9-4 overall) and puts them in a great position to earn a first round bye in next week's GNAC tournament.
Sophomores Wyatt Sullivan (Arlington, Mass.) and Jon Berry (Chichester, N.H.) each scored four goals and one assist, with Sullivan scoring three times in the third quarter and Berry notching three of his goals in the second half, in which Mount Ida outshot their opponents 20-12.
Lasell took a 5-2 lead into halftime by scoring the last two goals of the first quarter, two strikes nine seconds apart by Josh Gallant (Hampstead, N.H.), and the only two strikes of the second quarter, which came twelve seconds apart from Joe Cunning (Newton, Mass.) and junior Casey Sullivan (Quaker Hill, Conn.), who would lead the Lasers with three goals and three assists.
The Mustangs opened the second half with three straight goals, as Peter Hardy (Tyngsboro, Mass.) found Sullivan and then potted himself on a feed from junior Lucas Stralka (E. Greenwich, R.I.), who had three helpers.
Berry scored his second goal of the game to tie the contest at 5 with 9:55 left in the third and it stayed tied after Casey Sullivan scored twice around two goals by Wyatt Sullivan.
Sophomore Chad Coehlo (Salem, Mass.) and junior Steven Koziski (Peabody, Mass.) closed off the third quarter with goals and Berry opened the fourth on a feed from Sullivan to put Mount Ida up 10-7, but the Lasers were not done. They cut the deficit back to a goal with two strikes within a minute, Andrew Suh's (Colchester, Conn.) 18thof the year and the ninth of the season from Anthony Saitta (Derry, N.H.).
However, Coehlo delivered an unassisted strike at 4:50 left in the quarter and Berry sealed the win with forty-six seconds left with his fourth marker of the game.
Mustang senior Erik Berman (Montclair, N.J.) had a strong day at the face-off dot, winning 14 of 21 draws, while freshman Brendan Dwyer (Northport, N.Y.) won 6 of the 14 face-offs he took.
Freshman Cam Hayward (Derry, N.H.) made 15 saves in net to improve to 5-2 on the season, while junior David Walen (Longmeadow, Mass.) dropped to 5-5 after making 11 saves.
Sophomore Alex Veloukas (Salem, Mass.) caused a game-high 10 turnovers and picked up ground balls in the win for Mount Ida.
Sophomore Connor Johnson (Hampstead, N.H.) grabbed four ground balls in the loss.
Mount Ida closes out their regular season on Saturday when they travel to Johnson & Wales for a 1:00 PM conference finale, while Lasell plays a non-conference game at Wentworth at noon on Saturday as a last tune-up before the GNAC playoffs.
Recap Courtesy of Mount Ida College Sports Information