Men’s Lacrosse Storms by Wildcats

PROVIDENCE, RI: Rivier men's lacrosse won against Johnson & Wales University today in conference action on the road.

THE BASICS:

- Date: 4/15/23

- Score: Rivier 19, JWU 6

- Records: Rivier (10-3, 6-2), JWU (10-3, 5-2 GNAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

- Michael Ference (Salem, NH) of the Raiders opened up the first quarter with an unassisted goal at 13:37. Wildcats' Donny McInnis answered back to tie up the score at 1-1. Connor Eck (Franklin, MA) passed to Chris Heitmiller (Nashua, NH) who buried a Riv goal late in the first.

- In the second quarter, the Raiders put away seven goals, while the Wildcats were unable to find the back of the net. Riv's Eck got the scoring going with an assist credited to Ference. Just over 30 seconds later, Raiders' Coby Mercier (Boscawen, NH) launched in a goal with an assist granted to Heitmiller. Heitmiller then turned around to put away his own goal with an assist from Ference. Joseph O'Reilly (New Castle, NH) scored his first goal of the game at 6:54 in the second quarter. Nicholas Tavares (Danvers, MA) beat the JWU defenders, tossing in a goal with an assist credited to Ference. Eck scored his second goal of the quarter from Mercier to increase the score to 8-1. Michael Zapatka (Newington, CT) put away a goal with 19 seconds left on the clock for Riv with an assist from Ference.  

- In the third quarter Rivier and Johnson & Wales went shot for shot. Raiders goals came from Mercier on a man up opportunity, Potter on a man up opportunity with an assist from Ference, Heitmiller from Ference, and the final goal of the quarter scored by Tavares from Eck. JWU's third quarter goals were earned by Joe McIntyre from Noah Fye, then McIntyre on the man down from McInnis, and the other goal from Andrew Vasile.

- The Raiders outscored the Wildcats 6-2 in the fourth quarter. Zapatka rushed by the JWU defenders for an unassisted goal. Ference passed to Potter who scored with 8:28 to go in the quarter. Johnson & Wales scored two in a row credited to Fye from Mike Catuosco and Brent Rickett from Vasile. Rivier's final four goals were attained by O'Reilly from Ference, Ference on a man up from Mercier, Heitmiller from Potter, and the final goal from Sean Callinan (Shelton, CT) credited to Eck.

- Sawyer Gagnon (Gorham, ME) was tagged with the win, saving 12 shots for the Raiders. Trent Madigan of the Wildcats had 10 saves today and was flagged with the loss.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

- Shots: Rivier 46, JWU 32

- Ground Balls: JWU 34, Rivier 33

- Penalties: JWU 10 minutes on 7 infractions, 2 minutes on 2 infractions

UP NEXT:

- Rivier men's lacrosse will travel to face Dean College on Tuesday facing off at 3:30PM.

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