Men’s Lacrosse Drops Tight Contest to Roger Williams

NASHUA, N.H. – The Rivier men's lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, falling to Roger Williams in a 14-10 non-conference affair at Merrill Field.

With the loss, the Raiders dropped to 2-1 while the Hawks improved to 3-4.

The Hawks stormed out of the gate, netting three goals in the first 2:57 of play. Senior Michael Ference halted the early surge with an unassisted goal, but Roger Williams quickly capitalized on a man-up opportunity to extend its lead. Ference struck again from the slot, cutting the deficit to 4-2. The Hawks answered with another goal, but Rivier responded with back-to-back tallies from senior Michael Zapatka and first-year Aiden Conley. Graduate student Colby Mercier then ripped a shot past the goalkeeper with 38 seconds remaining, bringing the Raiders level at 5-5 to close out the first quarter.

Roger Williams reclaimed the lead just 41 seconds into the second quarter, making it 6-5. Senior Sawyer Hall quickly responded, burying a pass from Ference to even the score. The Hawks continued their offensive momentum, netting four of the next five goals. Senior Chris Heitmiller provided the lone goal for Rivier during the stretch as Roger Williams carried a 10-7 advantage into the halftime break.

The teams exchanged goals to open the second half, but sophomore Noah Zeman provided a spark for the Raiders, scooping up the ground ball off his faceoff and burying a shot to trim the deficit to two with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter. Both teams were held scoreless over the next ten minutes, but Roger Williams put the game out of reach with two goals in quick succession to close out the contest with a 14-11 win.

Ference paced the Raiders' offense with a team-high seven points, while Heitmiller added three of his own. Zapatka contributed two points along with four ground balls. Junior Owen McDuffie went 8-for-16 (50%) on faceoffs and collected a team-high seven ground balls, while Zeman dominated the spot, winning 8-of-11 (72.7%) faceoffs and securing three ground balls. Defensively, graduate student Robert DelPrete led the Raiders with two caused turnovers.

Graduate student goalkeeper Sawyer Gagnon recorded 12 saves in the contest, marking his third consecutive game with double-digit stops.

The Raiders return to action on Wednesday, March 12 against non-conference opponent U. of New England. Faceoff at Merrill Field is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.