Mount Ida knocks down Raiders, 20-1

Saturday, March, 31, 2012 (Newton, Massachusetts) – The Rivier Raiders fell to the Mount Ida College Mustangs Saturday afternoon by a decisive 20 – 1 score in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) game. The Mustangs scored the first 13 goals of the contest through 31 minutes of play until the visiting Raiders got on the board with their only score of the contest early in the third quarter.

Mount Ida improves to an overall record of 6-3 collecting their sixth straight victory with a perfect league standing of 3-0 while the visitors fall to 4-3 for the year with a GNAC slate of 1-2. The Mustangs are the reigning GNAC Conference Champions, and this game was a stern test for the Raiders. The Raiders are playing in their 3rd season as a program and it was an uphill battle against the conference's top team.

The Mustangs were led by freshman attacker Michael Trocchi tallying a game-high three goals with one assist. Six Mount Ida players added two goals a piece led by junior Nick Yacuzzi who also chipped in a dish. Senior's Brendan Hylan and Ian Saunders, sophomore's Anthony Genualdo and Kyle Cordaro (Worcester, MA/Hebron Academy) and freshman Steven Koziski all added two goals each. Five other Mustangs added a goal a piece coming from junior's Ryan Tirelli, Jake Davis and Gilson Fernandes Jr., sophomore J.T. Hoyt and freshman Greg Polish all added one score each. Fernandes and Polish dished out two helpers each while Hoyt, Saunders, senior's Stephen Tomasco and Michael Conway and sophomore's Zach Rosen and Kyle Danehy added one assist.

The visiting Raiders scored only one goal coming on an unassisted bid from the stick of freshman attacker/midfielder Ryan Woolaver (freshmen, Tewksbury, MA) in the 11th minute of the third quarter. Woolaver led the Raider attack on the day. Landing a team high 4 shots on goal, and 6 total shots. Mike Arricale (freshmen, Billerica, MA) got away 6 shots, but only was able to get one on goal. And Danny Hooper (sophomore, Wakefield, RI) managed 3 shots, 1 on goal.

Mount Ida dominated the middle circle led by Danehy who went a perfect 8-8 while freshman Michael Mattiello was also near flawless going 7-8.

Three goaltenders saw action for the Mustangs with netminder Jimmy McAllister starting the game only to

get pulled after half of the first quarter due to the large lead Mount Ida had built. Sophomore back-up Craig Bray saw action until the midway point only adding one save. Freshman Anthony Montelbano played the final two quarters denying seven Raider attempts.

Rivier goaltender, junior Chris Benoit (Blackstone, MA/Blackstone-Millville Regional), played all 60 minutes with 19 saves. Mount Ida attempted 58 shots for the contest, placing 39 on goal, adding to a long day from Benoit.

The hosts were also near perfect in clears going 27-for-29 while the visitors were unsuccessful on 10 chances at 23-for-33.

Rivier returns to action versus GNAC opponent Emmanuel at home on Thursday, April 6 at 6:00 pm.