Raiders Drop One at Home, Knocked Off 12 – 7 by Mitchell

Raider Field; Nashua, NH – The Rivier University Raiders (8 – 6, 5 – 4 GNAC) fell at home to the Mitchell College Mariners (8 – 4, 3 – 0 NECC) 12 – 7 tonight.  The visitors used a strong 1^st quarter, scoring four goals to open up a 4 – 1 lead at the end of the first.  Rivier pulled within one at 4 – 3 on a pair of goals from Kyle Graham (Sophomore - Londonderry, N.H.) to open the 2^nd quarter.  Mitchell answered with a pair of their own before Cody Lynch (Sophomore - Salem, N.H.) closed out the first half scoring and kept the Raiders within two at 6 – 4.  Mitchell widened their lead in the 3^rd with a pair of Shane Sullivan (Senior – Quaker Hill, CT) strikes sandwiched around another tally from Graham for Rivier to wrap the 3^rd up at 8 – 5 Mitchell.  Mitchell pushed the throttle to open the 4^th, firing in two more strikes and looking to pull away with a 10 – 5 lead.  The Raiders were able to answer with a quick two goal burst over ten seconds on strikes from Lynch and Graham and gain some momentum, pulling within three at 10 – 7.  But the visitors were able to close out the game with two more tallies and take the 12 – 7 win.

Leading the Raiders on the night was Kyle Graham with 4 goals, 1 assist, and 1 ground ball; Cody Lynch with 2 goals and 11 ground balls; Tom Johnson (Freshman - Londonderry, N.H.) with 1 goal and 1 assist; and John Cangiamila (Freshmen – Woburn, MA) with 1 assist and 7 ground balls.  Jim Varela (Junior – Merrimack, NH) went the distance in the cage, making 11 saves.   

The Mariners attack was led by Shane Sullivan with 4 goals, 1 assist, and 3 ground balls; Dan DiGioia (Sophomore – Glen Ridge, NJ) with 3 goals, 2 assists, and 4 ground balls; Demetre Lyras (Senior – Rocky Point, NY) with 2 goals and 5 ground balls; David Klapp (Senior – Greenfield, NY) 2 goals and 4 ground balls; and Jordan Cook (Junior – Groton, CT) with 7 ground balls.  In net for the Mariners was JD LeMay (Freshmen – Lagrangeville, NY) who made 8 saves over the full sixty minutes. 

Next up for the Raiders is a GNAC match-up with Norwich University at home this Saturday, April, 19^th at 1:00 pm.  Mitchell also returns to action this Saturday, the 19^th, hosting Nichols College at 1:00 pm.