MUSTANGS TAKE TOUGH NON-CONFERENCE LOSS TO EASTERN CONNECTICUT STATE, 19-9, Junior Brett Conley and Freshman Dan Harrington Net Three a Piece

Junior Brett Conley (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Warde) and freshman Dan Harrington (Westford, MA/Westford Academy) tallied three goals a piece for the Mustangs in a 19-9 loss to Little East Conference (LEC) member Eastern Connecticut State University this Tuesday at Mount Ida Athletic Field. The Mustangs would drop to 8-5 overall, 5-0 in the North Atlantic Conference (NAC), while the Warriors improve to 8-5, 4-0 in the LEC.

ECSU would net the first two goals of the contest by senior’s Jon Snedeker (Southington, CT/Southington) and Pete Hamilton (Rutland, VT/Rutland) giving the visitors the 2-0 advantage early in the opening quarter.

Mustang senior John Lightbown (Melrose, MA/Melrose) pulled his squad within one tallying his only goal of the contest with 11:20 to go in the first. The Warriors would reel off the next five goals, four in the remainder of the first quarter, and another in the opening 20 seconds of set two giving ECSU the 7-1 lead.

MIC would get their second score of the game from Harrington, but the visitors would come right back with two more goals of their own, another from Hamilton who netted a game high eight.

The hosts couldn’t keep the pace with the strong offense from Eastern, they would pull within five goals at 9-4 with 1:14 on a goal by freshman Matt Savage (Peabody, MA/Peabody) to go before the break, but it wouldn’t be enough to spark a comeback.

The Warriors would again start the third quarter with another score in the opening 20 seconds, another by Hamilton followed by sophomore Maxim Fantl’s (West Harford, CT/William H. Hall) first tally of the contest making it 11-4 at the 13:58 mark.

After a Conley goal for the Mustangs, The Warriors would pound the net with five unanswered scores, three by Hamilton, and two coming from the stick of senior Tyler Prescott (Norwalk, CT/Norwalk) extending the visitor advantage to 16-5 in the beginning of the final quarter. It would be all over from there, with no signs of offense from the hosts, while Eastern cruised to a 19-9 victory.

Following Harrington and Conley scores, Mount Ida would see also see offense from freshman Paul Battapaglia (Clinton, CT/Morgan) who notched one goal. Conley would tally three assists for a total of nine points for the game with senior Luke Philip Wilson (Essex, MA/Ipswich), junior Anthony DiMarsico (Fairport, NY/Fairport), and junior Leo Shidler (Peabody, MA/Peabody) all registering an assist a piece.

Mustang stopper Matt Vernik (Bethany, CT/Amity Regional) would save 15 shots while Warrior goaltender Kyle Savage (Southington, CT/Southington) stopped 19.

The Mustangs will play Becker College this Wednesday, their last regular season home game, starting at 3:00 p.m.