Rivier Wins On The Road - Down Anna Maria 11 - 4

Paxton, Mass. – The Rivier University men's lacrosse team dropped an 11-4 decision on host Anna Maria College Wednesday afternoon in Great Northeast Athletic Conference action. The AMCATS fall to 1-9 (1-4 GNAC) on the season with the setback, while the Raiders improve to 6-4 (3-3 GNAC).

The Raiders struck first with a pair of goals off the stick of Kyle Graham (Sophomore - Londonderry, N.H.) to hold a 2-0 advantage after one period. In the second quarter, Rivier would up their lead to 3-0 when Tom Johnson (Freshman - Londonderry, N.H.) would tally of the pass from Kevin Dembkoski (Sophomore - Salem, N.H.) and take that lead into the intermission.

The AMCATS' Lucas Stralka opened the scoring in the third quarter off a feed from David Poirier for the man-up goal to cut the deficit to 3-1. The Raiders countered with a pair of goals before Anna Maria potted a pair of man-advantage scores. First Rod Henriques notched an unassisted score then the senior found an open Poirier to make it a 5-3 ballgame. The Raiders responded scoring the last two goals of the stanza, both from Danny Hooper (Senior - Wakefield, R.I.) to hold a 7-3 lead heading into the fourth quarter.  Rivier would outscore the AMCATS 4-1 in the final frame en route to the 11-4 final.

Freshman Franco Francioso suffered the loss in goal, making 16 saves between the pipes. Nathan Batallas led the AMCATS with nine groundballs.  Clark Plummer (Sophomore - Londonderry, N.H.) and Jim Varela (Junior – Merrimack, NH) combined in goal for the Raiders with Plummer notching 8 saves and 3 ground balls while Varela posted 1 save and picked up 1 ground ball. 

Rivier returns to action this Saturday, April 5^th in a home contest versus GNAC opponent Lasell College at 4:00 pm.  Anna Maria returns to action on Saturday when the travel to Becker College for a 1:00 p.m. match-up.