"Crushing," one coach stated.

             "Big win," the opposing head coach loudly whispered in the aftermath of Sunday's 2-1 final.

             After Mount Ida and Lesley went into halftime in a scoreless tie, the Mustangs held a 1-0 lead for the majority of the second period and looked poised to knock off the host for a solid non-conference road win and the Mustangs first victory of 2011.

             The Mustangs held a lead, and had momentum, and Mount Ida was minutes away from a good win that seemed within distance.

             It was what happened in the final eight minutes that made the loss so devastating for Mount Ida head coach Joseph Campbell and so uplifting for Lynx leader Paul Vasconcelos.

             In a physical battle featuring five second half yellow cards and 28 fouls on the day, Lesley scored on two nearly identical Christian Domingo headers on indirect kicks from Ari Sinanis in the final 7:15, overcoming a 1-0 Mount Ida lead and upended the visiting Mustangs, 2-1, in comeback fashion Sunday afternoon at Edward Field.

            The teams went into halftime scoreless after a back and forth opening frame in which the physicality gradually increased but the scoring tries were at a minimum. Lesley outshot the Mustangs 5-4 for the half.

            Seventy seconds after Mount Ida's second yellow card of the second half, junior Ryan Graham (Wichita, KS/East) netted his first goal of the season, a blast from straight on that deflected slightly off a Lynx defender and sped into the bottom left corner of the net at 59:51.

            The Mustangs held the lead for the next 23 minutes, during which time Mount Ida was whistled for two more yellow cards, before a foul resulting in a Lesley indirect kick proved costly.

            Sinanis (Guilford, CT/Guilford) took the kick from 25 yards on the right wing, found Domingo cutting to the right of Mustangs keeper Mat Pils, and Domingo (Los Angeles, CA/Delphi Academy) headed the pass past Pils to tie the contest at 1-1 at 82:45.

            Ninety seconds later, Another Mount Ida infraction led to another Sinanis indirect kick from the right wing, this time from 30 yards, and as his entry hung across the Mount Ida keeper box, Domingo again streaked in from the opposite wing. From in front of the left goalpost Domingo, guided the pass into the top left corner of the net, lifting the Lynx to a 2-1 victory and keeping the team undefeated at 2-0.

            The Lynx outshot the Mustangs 13-8, with Lesley goalkeeper Max Perkins (Lexington, MA/Lexington) making three saves in the win and Pils (Monroe, CT/Masuk) stopping three shots in the loss.

            For Domingo, the goals are his first of 2011 and match his season total from a year ago. Sinanis, meanwhile, turned in his second straight two-assist performance.

            Of the 28 fouls, 20 were whistled against Mount Ida (0-2-0).

            Lesley returns to action Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Wentworth Institute of Technology.