NEWTON, Mass. - Senior captain Brett Conley (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Warde) notched five goals and one assist to lead the Mount Ida College men’s lacrosse team past visiting Maine Maritime Academy 13-5 in the semifinal round of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) tournament this Wednesday in Newton, Massachusetts. The Mustangs advance to their sixth consecutive NAC championship against the winner of Castleton State College and Johnson State College. The Mustangs improve to 12-6 overall, 10-1 in the NAC while the Mariners end their very successful 2009 season at 8-4, 7-2 in conference competition.
The Mustangs came out flat and the Mariners capitalized on it in the first three minutes of the contest taking a 1-0 lead on a Garrett Lake (Farmington, ME/Mt. Blue) goal from sophomore Christopher Keiley (Holliston, MA/Holliston). Mount Ida answered a minute later on Conley’s first score of the game off a feed from sophomore Matthew Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody) knotting it at 1-1.
The Mariners would not go away re-gaining the advantage on a Keiley score off a dish from senior Phillip McNerney (Eliot, ME/Marshwood) leading 2-1 at the 10:37 mark in the first quarter. The visitors added another, up by two scores midway through the first, on a Richard McKee (Plymouth, MA/Plymouth South) goal from Nick Lund (Alfred, ME/Massabesic) ahead 3-1, their largest lead of the game.
After a 7-0 run by the Mustangs, the visitors finally answered in the beginning of the third quarter on a freshman Brian Corain (Berwick, ME/St. Thomas Aquinas) unassisted score down 8-4. Mount Ida responded with a goal by Battapaglia from sophomore Dan Harrington (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) to lead 9-4 with 11 minutes to go in the third quarter. Another Corain goal for the Mariners at the end of the third made it 9-5 Mustangs heading into the fourth.
That was about it for the visitor’s small comeback while the Mustangs reeled off four final goals of the contest all in the fourth frame. Savage tallied two scores out of the four while Battipaglia and Prophete each added one a piece capturing the 13-5 victory.
