Men's Lacrosse edges Johnson & Wales for first GNAC win of 2014

(Nashua, New Hampshire) The Rivier University Men's Lacrosse team earned their first conference win of the season as they beat visiting Johnson & Wales University, 11-10 at Raider Field in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference contest on Wednesday evening. The win evens the Raiders' record to 4-4 and are now 1-3 in the GNAC while Johnson & Wales falls to 2-6 overall and 0-3 in the conference.

Sophomore Cody Lynch's (Salem, NH) goal with 3:51 remaining was the difference maker as it gave Rivier an 11-9 lead. JWU made things interesting as Chris Macchi (Hastings-On-Hudson, NY) netted his third of the game to make it 11-10 with a minute left.

Rivier freshman Sean Given (Londonderry, NH) was the game's leading scorer as he found the back of the net five times on six shots. Sophomore Kyle Graham (Londonderry, NH) added a goal and seven assists while Lynch finished the evening with three goals and a helper. Sophomore netminder Clark Plummer (Londonderry, NH) made 10 saves to earn his fourth win of the season.

The Wildcats were paced by the sophomore Macchi and classmate Alex Hayes (Wilton, Conn.) who each had three goals. Macchi also added two assists while Hayes recorded one assist. Sophomore Tyler Thompson (West Chester, Penn.) was able to beat the Raider goaltender twice and provided four assists in the loss. Senior Mike Russo (Chelmsford, Mass.) saw 30 minutes of action in between the pipes and took the loss after allowing four goals on ten shots.

Both teams will return to action on Saturday afternoon as they travel to fellow GNAC schools. Rivier will make the hour drive to Worcester, Mass. to battle with Becker College while JWU will journey up to Northfield, Vermont to take on Norwich University. Both game times are slated for 1pm.