NUMBER ONE SEEDED MOUNT IDA MEN’S LAX SET TO HOST 2011 GNAC TITLE GAME AFTER 13-0 SHUTOUT OVER MONKS
Thursday, April 28, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – Mount Ida College senior attacker Matthew Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody) notched a game high three goals tallying his 200th career point in the process en route to a 13-0 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) shutout victory over visiting fourth seeded St. Joseph’s College (ME) in semifinal action of the GNAC post-season tournament Thursday afternoon in Newton, Massachusetts.
Thursday, April 28, 2011 (Newton, Massachusetts) – Mount
Ida College senior attacker Matthew Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody)
notched a game high three goals tallying his 200th career point in
the process en route to a 13-0 Great Northeast Athletic Conference
(GNAC) shutout victory over visiting fourth seeded St.
Joseph’s College (ME) in semifinal action of the GNAC
post-season tournament Thursday afternoon in Newton,
Massachusetts.
The number one seeded Mustangs improve to an overall record of 10-7
improving to a perfect league slate at 8-0. Mount Ida, who
joined the GNAC this year, will host the title game this Saturday
against number two seed Lasell College Saturday afternoon starting
at 12 noon at Mount Ida Athletic Stadium.
The Monks end their 2011 season with an overall record of 10-8 with
a league slate of 4-4 finishing the year in fourth place in the
GNAC standings.
Along with Savage, Mount Ida senior midfielder Dan Harrington
(Westford, MA/Westford Academy) collected his 100th point needing
only one to do so when he scored the sixth goal of the game en
route to the victory.
Mount Ida junior netminder James McAllister (Smithfield, RI/LaSalle
Academy) pitched the shutout with another amazing performance
denying 16 Monk attempts. St. Joseph’s (ME) sophomore
goaltender Christopher Driscoll (Saco, ME/Thornton Academy) caromed
15 Mustang shots but received no help from his offense.
Following a slow start offensively, sophomore attacker Jake Davis
(Chester, NH/Pinkerton Academy) tallied the first goal of the
contest for the Mustangs on a feed from freshman Zachary Davis (Old
Lyme, CT/Xavier) midway through the opening frame for the 1-0
lead.
Mount Ida notched two more scores in the first stanza on tallies
from sophomore Mike Durand (Londonderry, NH/Londonderry) on a dish
from Jake Davis followed by a sophomore Nick Yacuzzi (Worcester,
MA/St. John’s-Shrewsbury) goal from junior Sean Slattery
(South Burlington, VT/South Burlington) for the 3-0 lead.
Exactly one minute into the second quarter, Savage would tally his
first of three goals on a feed from freshman attacker Zachary Rosen
(East Greenwich, RI/St. Andrew’s School) taking the 4-0
advantage. Savage struck again six minutes later on a dish
from Yacuzzi inflating the lead to 5-0.
Harrington followed with an impressive jump shot that found the
back of the net for his 100th point giving Mount Ida a 6-0
advantage with two minutes to go in the frame. Rosen notched
the final score of the quarter on an assist from senior Paul
Battipaglia (Clinton, CT/Morgan) heading into the break up 7-0.
Senior defender Billy Eagan (North Andover, MA/North Andover) broke
free off a turnover going coast-to-coast netting an unassisted bid
10 seconds into the third stanza leading 8-0. Two unassisted
goal ensued on scores from Yacuzzi and Battipaglia giving Mount Ida
a big 10-0 advantage with over 10 minutes remaining in the
frame.
Harrington notched the final goal of the quarter on a dish from
Jake Davis to lead 11-0. Savage and junior attacker Billy
Gerke (Essex, VT/Rice Memorial) added the last two tallies of the
game, both on unassisted bids, to close out the 13-0 post-season
semifinal shutout victory over the Monks.
The visitors took 30 shots for the game but were unable to get
anything by the hot hand of McAllister who has been impressive all
year. Mount Ida continues to struggle in the middle circle
going only 6-15 to the Monks 9-15. The Mustangs were near
perfect clearing the ball out of their zone going 32-34 while the
visitors had difficulty because of a swarming Mount Ida defense at
19-31.
