Norwich trips up Men's Lacrosse in final game before Playoffs

(Northfield, VT) Despite losing to Norwich University by a score of 14-5, the Rivier University Men's Lacrosse team earned a spot in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) playoffs on April 23. The loss drops the Raiders overall record to an even 7-7 and 3-6 in conference play. With the victory Norwich improves to 8-3 overall and a perfect 8-0 in the GNAC.

The Raiders fell to a 7-0 deficit after the first 15 minutes of play but would get on the board in the second quarter as freshman Kyle Graham (Londonderry, NH) scored on an assist by sophomore Ryan Woolaver (Tewksbury, MA). Woolaver would score the first Raider goal out of halftime and later assist classmate Mike Arricale (Billerica, MA) with just over a minute remaining to earn his third point of the day. Freshman Robert Auer (Salem, NH) and junior Danny Hooper (Wakefield, RI) each tallied the other Raider goals. Freshman Clark Plummer (Londonderry, NH) was as solid as he could be with 12 saves in the contest.

Ian Thomas led Norwich with eight points with four goals and four assists. Mike Lavery notched two goals while Ian Mendoza added two. Norwich was able to capitalize as they won 19 of 22 face-offs and were 2-5 on the man up opportunity. The victory propels Norwich to the #1 overall seed in the upcoming GNAC playoffs.