Men's Lacrosse: Raiders top Regis for first GNAC win, 13-5

Men's Lacrosse: Raiders top Regis for first GNAC win, 13-5

(Nashua, NH) The Rivier University Raiders Men's Lacrosse team earned a Great Norteast Athletic Conference contest this evening to visiting Regis College, 13-5 at Raider Field.  The win sends them to 1-0 in conference play and a 2-5 overall record.  Regis slides to 0-1 in conference play with a overall record also at 2-5. 

While their overall records are equal, the difference between the two programs today is a conference win for the Raiders.  Senior Joe Kelland (Watertown, Ma) started the scoring off with under a minute into the game after a brilliant pass from classmate Liam Ryan (Dorchester, Mass.).

GNAC Rookie of the week Dylan McSparren (Warwick, RI) slotted an unassisted goal at the 10:26 mark and Junior Eric Guinasso (Pelham, NH) added a goal of his own off an assist from McSparren. The Rookie sits 4th in the conference with 11 assists on the season.

The first quarter was pretty well contested as shots were taken at both ends. Freshman, goalkeeper Nick Penta (Andover, Ma) tallied 1 save while junior Cloutman (Peabody, Ma) showed his experience with 9 saves in the first quarter to keep the score at 3-0 in Rivier's favor.

To start scoring off in the second quarter, Ryan tallied his 11th goal of the season off of a Kyle Newman (Merrimack, NH) dish at the 12:28 mark. A minute later Guinasso contributes a goal of a McSparren feed.

Junior A.J. Gearin tallied a goal after winning a ground ball on the sideline and streaked across the front of the goal and buried one in the back of the net.

In the fourth quarter the game got quite physical as some flags were thrown and the Raiders were caught by surprise by 3 goals playing a man down.  The goals were credited to Brent Young (Feeding Hills, MA), Collin Spillane (Franklin, MA) and Brian Wagner (Melrose, MA)

Junior Matt Cloutman (Peabody, Mass.) was a true force between the pipes as he made 14 saves, several of them in spectacular fashion. The Peabody native currently sits in second place in the GNAC with a 59.6 save percentage with 93 total saves on the season.

The Raiders will return to conference action on Saturday, March 31st as they face Albertus Magnus in New Haven, Conn. at 1PM. Next up for the Pride is a host matchup with Emmanuel College (0-5) on Monday, April 2 at 4pm.