Raiders Fall In GNAC Quarterfinal To Mount Ida

Tuesday, April 23, 2013 (Newton, Massachusetts)- The Rivier University Raiders men's lacrosse team fell to Mount Ida College by a final score of 20-7 in Great Northeast Quarterfinal (GNAC) action on Tuesday afternoon on a rainy and cold day on Alumni Field. With the loss, the Raiders end their season at 7-8 on the year while the Mustangs improve to 10-7 overall.  It is the Raiders second consecutive trip to the GNAC Conference playoffs. 

The Raiders were led by Rob Auer (Fr, Salem, NH) 3 goals, 2 ground balls, Kyle Graham (Fr, Londonderry, NH) 1 goal, 4 ground balls, Andrew Lucy (So, Windham, NH) 5 ground balls, and  Mike Arricale (So, Billerica, MA) 1 goal, 3 ground balls.  Clark Plummer (Fr, Londonderry, NH) had 12 saves and Chris Benoit (Sr, Blackstone, MA) played the final quarter in goal. 

Rivier would get on the board first at the 12:20 mark of the first quarter on an unassisted goal by Robert Auer. Mount Ida freshman attack Phil Pichel (Hopkinton, MA/Hopkinton) would fire right back scoring two straight goals to give Mount Ida the early 2-1 lead. The Raiders would answer right back knotting the score at 2-2 on a tally by Kyle Graham at the 6:30 mark of the quarter. Michael Markvevich would give the hosts the lead at 3-2 off a pass from Pichel with 5:35 left in the opening stanza. Moments later Zach Rosen (East Greenwich, RI/St. Andrew's School) would find Markevich again for the 4-2 advantage just before JT Hoyt (Westfield, MA/Westfield) scored his first tally of the day giving the Mustangs a 5-2 lead after one quarter of play.

Mount Ida opened the second quarter with momentum as they fired off the first four goals of the quarter on tallies by Ryan Tirelli (Yorktown, NY/Yorktown), Markevich, Pichel, and Corey Gelbstein (Greenwich, CT/Forman) giving Mount Ida a commanding 9-2 lead. Mike Arricale would tally his only goal of the game at the 4:54 mark for Rivier, cutting into the lead at 9-3. Hoyt added his second marker of the game with 2:49 left in the half, before Auer scored his second goal, while Nick Yacuzzi (Oakham, MA/St. John's-Shrewsbury) tallied his only goal of the contest with 0:17 left in the half. The final seconds would run off the clock and the hosts would hold an 11-4 lead at the half.

Michael Trocchi (Danvers, MA/Danvers), Hoyt and Markevich started off the third quarter right where they left off at halftime, scoring the first three goals of the second half and increasing the Mount Ida lead to 14-4. Auer scored his third goal of the day good for the hat trick at the 10:44 mark for the Raiders. Pichel, Jake Davis (Chester, New Hampshire), Trevor Hendrix (Grafton, MA/Blackstone Valley Tech.), and Markevich finished off the third quarter with four straight tallies increasing the Mount Ida lead to 18-5.

Brandon Hanifin (Fr, Tewksbury, MA) scored the first goal of the final stanza at the 12:29 mark, before Paul Studdard (West Haven, CT/West Haven) would add his first goal of the game while adding to the lead at 19-6. Dan Connelly (So, Bedford, NH) scored the Raider's seventh goal of the game, but it would prove not enough as Chaz Strom (North Grafton, MA/Blackstone Valley Tech.) added the final goal of the game while solidifying the victory for Mount Ida.

Craig Bray (New Canaan, CT/Vermont Academy) saw the first 45 minutes of play for Mount Ida making four saves on nine shots. Anthony Genualdo (Peabody, MA/Mystic Valley) saw the final 15 minutes of the game while posting two saves on four shots. Clark Plummer saw 45 minutes of play for Rivier before Chris Benoit finished out the game for the Raiders.

Mount Ida advances the GNAC Semi-Finals and will host the Hawks of Becker College on Thursday afternoon with game time yet to be determined.

Main body of story taken from Mount Ida Sports Information page