Men’s Lacrosse rolls in opening day win over Mitchell, 24-3

By OWEN BROWN

North Adams, MA--Led by Nathan Haley's eight-goal, five-assist performance, the MCLA Men's Lacrosse team cruised to a 24-3 opening-day victory over Mitchell College this afternoon at Shewcraft Field. With the win the Trailblazers are now 1-0, while Mitchell College falls to 0-2 on the young season.

It would take MCLA just 21 seconds to get on the board as Haley's first tally of the season would set the tone for the day and lead to a dominating 6-0 first quarter by the hosts.

MCLA would carry the momentum into the second putting four more goals on the board.

A suffocating defensive effort would allow only 9 Mitchell shots and force 11 Mariner turnovers in the first half as the Trailblazers would take a commanding 10-0 lead into halftime.  

After a pair of Boden Dock goals early in the third, Mitchell's Jon Parra-Tobby would finally get the visitors on the board to make it 13-1. But MCLA would be undeterred scoring five more times including another by Haley with just four seconds left in the quarter to put the Trailblazers up 18-2 headed into the fourth.

Haley would score three more times in the final quarter and Dock would add a pair as MCLA closed out the Mariners in strong fashion to earn their first win of the season, 24-3

Haley would lead all scorers with 8 goals and five assists. Dock would finish with 7 goals on the day. Anthony Andolina would add a hat-trick while Johnny Hebert (4 assists) and Jaquan Chinnis both scored twice.

MCLA goalie John Hankel would record the win making seven saves to move to 1-0. Mitchell goalkeeper Ethan Wheeler made 16 saves in the losing effort and falls to 0-2.

The Trailblazers held decisive advantages in shots (69-22) and ground balls (51-30).

Mitchell's next game will be Wednesday when they host Hartford. MCLA will next host Regis College next Saturday at 1pm.